E-DRUG: Essential Drugs in Tamilnadu, India
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Hello e-druggers,
With reference to the write up on Essential Medicine Concept on e-drug Digest, Vol 4, issue 13, here is the description of an example in a State in India, where the essential drugs concept is fully accepted by the State Health Department and is implemented in full spirit. The whole process is a success and this model can be followed by others as well.
Dr.S.Gopalakrishnan
Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences,
Asian Institute of Medicine, Science & Tecnology,
Kedah, Malaysia
Gopala Krishnan <drsgopal56@yahoo.co.in>
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ESSENTIAL DRUGS IN TAMIL NADU, INDIA
Dr.S.Gopalakrishnan
drsgopal@gmail.com
Essential drugs are those that satisfy the health care needs of the majority of the population, meant to treat commonly prevalent diseases, they should therefore be safe, effective and should be available at low costs at all times, in adequate amounts and in the appropriate dosage forms.
Essential drugs are critically required for the management of 90-95% of common and important disease conditions in our country. These medicines must meet with high standards of quality, safety and efficacy and should be available at an affordable cost
Concept of essential drugs
The concept of essential drugs was introduced by WHO in 1977. Based on this the Govt. of India published a National Essential drug list adopted by an expert committee based on the following observations. It is found that there are more than 60,000 drugs formulations available in the market. Actually 90% of the commonly prevalent diseases can be treated with less than 10% of the drugs available in the market.
The Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation(TNMSC) was established in 1994 by the State Government in order to scientifically procure, store and distribute quality drugs based on the Essential drugs concept to all levels of health care delivery system in the state at low cost.
The TNMSC had constituted an expert committee to prepare an Essential drugs list based on the WHO model list.
· The essential drugs list is meant to cater the health care needs of the primary, secondary and tertiary level hospitals in the state.
· The essential drug list is updated every year.
· Drug procurement, storage and distribution is done based on the drug essential list.
· Essential drug list has helped to save money and time and in preventing avoidable wastage.
· The latest essential drug list has 270 drug formulations, which are enough to treat more than 90% of the illness reported.
· Essential drug list is now accepted by medical professionals and safe and effective medicines are made available to prescribe and dispense.
Benefits
By implementing the essential drugs concept in Tamil Nadu, the efficiency of drug management had improved.
All essential drugs are available throughout the year.
At least 3 months buffer stock is maintained at any point of time.
There is no more expired drugs, no drug wastage, no pilferage and stock outs.
High standards of quality control and quality assurance is made possible.
The essential drugs are purchased only from pharmaceutical companies who follow the good manufacturing practices stipulated by the drugs control authorities and TNMSC, thereby ensuring safety and efficacy of drugs. Drugs are specially packed in strips and blister packets and marked Tamil Nadu Government Supply-Not for Sale.
These activities resulted in considerable reduction in the cost of drug produced. From about Rs.100 crores the drug budget has been reduced to Rs.80 criers per annum to purchase the same quantity of drugs. The money thus saved is utilized for purchase of medical equipments like CT scans for each District Hospitals, Ultra-sonogram machines, ECG machines, X-ray machines, pulse oxy-meters, ventilators and other utilities for the hospital services. This helped to improve the quality of health care provided through the hospitals at an affordable cost for the patient as well as the government.