To blog ? or Not to ?

It happened to read a series of story published in Malayalam Daily-Malayala Manorama about Medicine Mafia.

It was shocking to read that any medicine can be duplicated and you can even have medicine in your own brand. It also revealed that expired medicine are not thrown out!, it come back to us in a brand new pack.

Team of Manorama have travelled to Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh to find the people behind the so called mafia. They have even gone for laboratory test in which they found the medicine was adulterated. Their findings;

• Chemical/ingredient percentage is less
• Expired medicine are coming back in a new pack
• Factories does not maintain minimum hygienic requirements
• Anyone can make any medicine and market, license is not an issue at all.

According to them, a portion of government officials are with this mafia, enables them  to do whatever they wish, for the same they are rewarded, not only the officials, doctors too are part of it.

Doctors should think about what they are doing, so many people get admission in government colleges and get appointed in government hospitals. They learn with the help of common mans’ money and earn the same. But some are not satisfied and going for extra income.

I would like to congratulate the Manorama Team for the commitment they shown towards common man. This is the best example of a Corporate Social Responsibility.

Now, we need to think why or how this adulteration or duplication happens. Most commonly used medicines like Paracetamol are made by every one in different brand names. Some are so greedy to make money and reduce the required chemical content so that  the cost of medicine is less and sold in the market for same rate original has.

Expired medicines are taken back by the manufacturing company, and does not know what they do with it. For the wholesalers there is no need to sell it to third party since manufacturing company is paying them the actual cost. So expired medicine can come to the market again may be with the knowledge of manufacturing company.

Medicines of well known companies are made with different and low cost chemical combinations and it reach to market with the help of may be with  C&F agents, Distributors, wholesalers etc.

Now, we need to think about well known companies, there are possibilities to duplicate their medicines, what they should do against this duplicating?

My point comes here: it is interesting to see in some companies annual report a term ‘Corporate  Social Responsibility’, but do they actually have it? Need to think about it.

If a medicine or any other item is adulterated or duplicated  it is going to affect common man, so the prime responsibility with corporate are to see at least their items are not duplicated or adulterated. If anything   come to their notice, they should act.

Companies those who spend millions on Research & Development can also do something against this adulteration and duplication – ONLY if they wish.

If someone have a doubt about an item, there should be some mechanism with in the company to clarify the same. If not they should come up with any solution and prove that the item is not adulterated or duplicated.  There are adulteration in most of the FMCG items.

I would like to share an experience;

I used  to have honey every day with my medicine, I use honey of a well known company and they claim that the ‘purity is guaranteed’. I normally buy it from a local vendor. Sometimes I feel that I got a duplicate one, because;

• Bottle does not open easily as it happens with genuine one, I had to use knife some times.
• Taste of honey is different than the original one.

I have visited their website and posted a feedback about the same along with the bottles batch no, expiry date etc. This is almost 10 days passed, but there is no reply from them.

What should we understand from it, do they also part of this adulteration? Don’t they have a commitment towards common man? This the situation where they should show the responsibility-the ultimate social responsibility. But I doubt whether they have it other than on a sheet of paper.

I conclude with some suggestions;

• Use medicine when it is most necessary.
• If you feel any complication report with medicine/material and you can go for a laboratory test too. If the result is negative then file a case against manufacturing company.
• Always check expiry date and whether the pack carry all the necessary details.
• Spread this information.

Image: http://personalbrandingblog.wordpress.com