ISM director set to resolve ongoing shortage of ISM medicines in hospitals, PHCs

ISM director set to resolve ongoing shortage of ISM medicines in hospitals, PHCs
Thursday, February 24, 2011, 08:00 Hrs

The ongoing shortage of ISM medicines in the state hospitals and in special wings of Primary Health Centres across Tamil Nadu will be tackled within a few months from now through proper supplies and measures are being taken to bring an end to the crisis.

Plans are on to provide ISM drugs in the state in case of a serious shortage of any essential drugs, said, M Chandrasekaran, director of ISM Tamil Nadu.

In an interview with Pharmabiz, the new director said he has visited most of the hospitals and PHCs in the state not only to check the drugs availability, but to know about the current position and status of infrastructure facilities there. He said he has many reforms in mind for the future of the directorate and to make it into a modern centre of Indian medicines.

According to him the shortage of raw materials is the main cause that delay the preparation of medicines, and steps have already been taken to address it. Preference will be given to sort out and solve the local issues including lack of doctors and other staff.

He said that the shortage of doctors do not normally affect the services of the hospitals or ISM wings in PHCs. “Now the situation has started improving, the availability of medicines and the services of doctors are there in all the institutions. Further improvements will be carried out soon”, Chandrasekaran said.

Regarding manufacturers’ problems, the director said “we will not delay anything from our end. But we have to comply with the rules and regulations of Ayush department”. When asked about the delay in issuing product endorsements and new licenses, he said he will look into the matter soon and make everything transparent as early as possible.

The shortage of Indian system of medicines in Tamil Nadu has become acute for the health department and the principal secretary of the state himself had to interfere in the matter. Slowly the government has taken some initiatives to supply some of the essential drugs to some major hospitals.

Large quantities of Siddha, Ayurveda and Unani medicines to the Ayush hospitals are supplied by the government owned company, Tamil Nadu Medicinal Plant Farms and Herbal Medicine Corporation Limited, (Tampcol), but it does not seem to have a sound plan for production and supply. It has the licence to produce 62 Siddha drugs, 14 Ayurveda drugs and 7 Unani medicines. Apart from Ayurveda and Siddha medicines, only one Unani medicine, ‘Laboob-e-sagheer’, (Viagra) is manufactured and marketed by Tampcol currently. Demand for this product is coming from countries like US, UK, Canada, Singapore, Spain, China, Germany, Italy and from all the gulf countries to the Tampcol office in Annanagar. Since the demand for the product exceeds the supply, the company is now vigorously concentrating on manufacturing it at its plant at Alathur.

Earlier, there was allegation that improper and irregular supply of medicines by Tampcol was the main cause for the worsening situation of the government Siddha hospitals in the state. Patients with chronic ailments such as arthritis, skin diseases, psoriasis, eczema, leucoderma, and those suffering from viral fever were the mostly affected by the shortage. Even now, Tampcol is able to supply less than fifty items of medicines.

Delhi docs hog lion's share of Padma awards

Delhi docs hog lion's share of Padma awards

NEW DELHI: Doctors from Delhi seem to have an undue advantage when it comes to receiving the prestigious Padma awards. And, cardiologists and cardiac surgeons make the grade more often in the hallowed list.

An interesting analysis -- "Doctors and the Padma Awards" -- published in National Medical Journal of India on Tuesday lists that 1,166 Padma awards were announced between 2000 and 2010. Of these, 157 (13.4%) were from the field of medicine.

As many as 137 of the awardees were finally evaluated as the rest five were overseas awardees and 15 were from alternative field of medicine like ayurveda, siddha and homoeopathy.

Of the 137 awardees in medicine, 62 (45%) were from Delhi, 18 (13%) from Maharashtra and 17 (12%) from Tamil Nadu. There were less than 10 representatives from other states in the corresponding period.

Incidentally, not a single doctor from large states like West Bengal, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana received any of the Padma awards.

Analysis of the state-wise distribution of the Padma awardees confirmed Delhi's dominance. It showed that among the seven Padma Vibhushan awardees, four (57%) were from Delhi. Among the 25 Padma Bhushans, 16 (64%) were from Delhi and among the 105 Padma Shris, 42 (40%) were from the national Capital.

The analysis -- done by a team, headed by Dr Samiran Nundy, from the department of surgical gastroenterology and liver transplantation of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital -- also revealed the dominance by cardiologists and cardiac surgeons. It showed that 31 out of the 137 awardees (23%) were cardiologists or cardiac surgeons, followed by ophthalmologists 15 (11%) and orthopedic surgeons 14 (10%).

Cardiologists received a greater proportion (43%) of the Padma Vibhushan awards. The other awardees were from Orthopedics (1), Neurology (1) and general medicine (1) discipline. Around 36% of the Padma Bhushans and 18% of the Padma Shris were conferred on cardiac specialists.

"The over representation of Delhi and cardiology in the Padma awards for medicine suggests that their distribution is not entirely fair," the study observed.

It explained, "This data is interesting on many accounts. Nearly half the awards were bestowed on Delhi doctors who were likely to have treated the politicians and bureaucrats who made the decisions. This skewed bias towards Delhi and towards the specialty of cardiology raises some questions about the representative nature of these awards and the selection process."

The Padma Awards were instituted in 1954, and are announced every year on the eve of Republic Day. Padma Shri is awarded for distinguished service, Padma Bhushan for distinguished service of a high order, and Padma Vibhushan for exceptional and distinguished service.

times of india 23.02.11

WIPO and CSIR organaise meet

WIPO to organise traditional knowledge meet in March

Press Trust of India / New Delhi February 13, 2011, 12:07 IST

                             The World Intellectual Property Organisation, a specialised UN agency, along with Indian government will organise a three-day meet on traditional knowledge, including ayurvedic medicine and unani, next month.

                           Geneva-headquartered WIPO is responsible for promoting and protecting intellectual property rights worldwide.
   
                           The meeting, to be held here, would help in creating more awareness about intellectual property rights and patents, that are crucial for protecting traditional knowledge.


"We (WIPO) will be holding a major meeting on traditional knowledge in March in India," WIPO Director General Francis Gurry told PTI.

"India has been a leader there in terms of technology for the preservation and monetisation of traditional knowledge... notably ayurvedic medicine, unani and other medical systems," he said.

Gurry, who would be attending the meet, stressed that he is very keen to engage India, which has a great tradition of science and culture.

According to a WIPO official, the event would focus on utilisation of Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) as a model for the protection of traditional knowledge.

"Tentatively, the event would be from March 22 to 24. It would be organised by WIPO and CSIR (Council of Scientific & Industrial Research)," the official said.

TKDL is a project between CSIR, Ministry of Science and Technology and Department of AYUSH, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

As per its website, the project involves documentation of the traditional knowledge available in public domain related to Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Yoga. The content is gathered in digitised format in English, German, French, Japanese and Spanish.