A 200mg tablet crucial for treating anaemia, which a majority of Indian children and adolescent girls need, is unavailable because it is dirt cheap.
MUMBAI: A 200mg tablet crucial for treating anaemia, which a majority of Indian children and adolescent girls need, is unavailable because it is dirt cheap. At 13 paise, ferrous fumarate does not provide attractive margins to chemists.
According to the Delhi Health Survey Services — Reproductive & Child Health survey 2002-2003, 92.2 per cent of children below five and 95 per cent of adolescent girls suffer from anaemia in the country.
Doctors attending to most of these patients are being forced to prescribe one of the 338 other anti-anaemic combinations whose cost is more than 46 times that of ferrous fumarate. The cost of 30-day treatment with the available medicines ranges from Rs11.70 to Rs540.
The Drug Action Forum-Karnataka’s (DAF-K) study suggests that of the 338 preparations listed in the Current Index of Medical Specialities, only ferrous fumarate conforms to the WHO List of Essential Drugs, 2005. The WHO list considers such parameters as active ingredients and strength.
Since chemists are reluctant to sell the lowest-priced scientific combination to treat anaemia, the market has been accommodating irrational combinations — a euphemism for unscientific combinations of ingredients.
Hyderabad-based J&J DeChane stopped producing ferrous fumarate six months ago because it could not find anyone to stock it, a company official said. Now, the company is launching a combination anti-anaemia drug that will contain, in addition to the essential ingredient, vitamin C, vitamin E, selenium, and zinc. “Despite the large amounts paid for healthcare, most consumers’ money is spent in vain,” said Dr Gopal Dabade of DAF-K.
Contrary to WHO stipulations, a large number of anti-anaemia formulations containing varying quantities of iron, vitamin B12, folic acid, and sometimes other vitamins and nutrients, are marketed and used indiscriminately. Most preparations contain one or all ingredients in low amounts, which may adversely affect diagnosis of the patient.
The Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) could not be contacted for comment. But Amitabh Chandra, commissioner, Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration, said, “We clear licences only after checking whether the combinations are harmful. Adding vitamins is part of a marketing gimmick, and if the drug is not harmful, there is no need to take action.”
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