In a move that may result in major changes in the entire drug supply system in the country and likely to cause setbacks to the distributors’ network, an MD level meeting of medical services corporations of five states – Kerala, Gujarat, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu --- decided to replicate the Kerala model of Karunya community pharmacies in their states.

Though the medical corporation captains of Haryana and Andhra Pradesh also wanted to be part of the meeting, they could not attend the meeting due to the meeting of Central Drug Procurement Agency in New Delhi, said Biju Prabhakar, MD of KMSCL adding that the two managing directors will visit the state next month.

The meeting was called by Kerala Medical Services Corporation Limited (KMSCL) to share the technical knowhow with other states of the drugs supply chain system established by it in the state through Karunya community pharmacy outlets. Branded drugs for the Karunya pharmacies are directly procured from manufacturers by the state medical supply corporation, keeping the distributors aside.

The states, where medical corporations are working, will soon start Karunya model retail chain system to provide essential drugs on discounted rates. In this system, the government will not route the supply through stockists or wholesalers. Currently seven states in India have medical supply corporations which will act as the drug procurement agencies.

According to sources, the officers have deliberated on how to put up common terms and conditions for all states for procuring branded drugs directly from manufacturers and supply to the government run hospital pharmacies by keeping the distributors out of the picture. The four state corporations will give priority to promote supply of branded drugs through their soon-to-be established community pharmacies.

As per the decisions arrived at, the states will exchange medicines in case of exigencies, and data collection, actions on blacklisting of companies etc. will be made on a common understanding. The major advantage of the move is that all the drugs, whether it is generic or branded, will be made available in these states at a common price. The manufacturers will supply the drugs to all the states on a fixed rate.

From November onwards, the Karunya pharmacies in Kerala will sell only essential and high tech medicines and government hospital pharmacies will dispense quality branded generics, Biju Prabhakar said. “Drugs used for the treatment of renal diseases (nephrology and urology), cancer, hypertension, infertility treatment etc., will be made available in all the Karunya pharmacies. In addition to drugs, stents, surgical disposable devices and plastic items will also be made available on subsidized rates,” he added.

After the meeting the medical corporation directors visited two Karunya Pharmacies established by KSMCL in Thiruvananthapuram to study the functioning of the drug stores.

The obvious advantages of these pharmacy outlets include availability of all essential and speciality drugs at all times, discounted prices, ensured quality and branded items. The pharmacy sells the medicines at a rate of 20 to 60 per cent discounts on the cost of all branded prescription drugs and 93 per cent discounts on all speciality drugs by reducing the profits of wholesalers and retailers.

The Corporation had conducted a Suppliers’ Meet in Thiruvananthapuram on July 6, in which nearly 200 medical suppliers, including big players like Dr Reddy's Lab, Ranbaxy, Cipla, Lupin, Sun Pharma, Aurobindo Pharma, GlaxoSmithKline Pharma (GSK), Cadila Healthcare and Aventis Pharma, attended.

Kerala medical supply corporation will further start 35 more Karunya pharmacies in the state in the next two months. For this, the Corporation has tied up with Hindustan Lifecare Limited (HLL) for setting up retail outlets in all the medical colleges, general hospitals and selected taluk hospitals.