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Kathmandu Monday August 13, 2001 Shrawan 29, 2058.
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Pharmacists demand level field, not
protection
Post Report
KATHMANDU, Aug 12 - Pharmacists have said that they are not
in need of protection but want level field to compete with foreign companies, especially
Indian drug companies whose productions have dominated the local market.
They complained that the local pharmaceuticals are
unnecessarily taxed, but the foreign companies while exporting drugs to Nepal have to pay
a minimum tax.
Pradeep Jung Pandey, President of APPON, said that while
importing drugs one has to pay just 3 per cent customs duty, but 16 per cent tax including
Value Added Tax (VAT) is charged to us while exporting drugs and it is very discouraging.
Therefore, the government should resolve the problem if it is committed to foster local
industries.
He also asked the government to provide soft loans to
pharmaceuticals and to help in transferring technology to enhance their competitiveness.
He also expressed worries over the use of 21,000 plus brands of foreign drugs and 1000
local brands in a small country with a population of only 23 million.
"Government should create conducive environment to the
growth of the private drug companies by taking them into confidence, the private
pharmaceuticals would then be able to vie with foreign company," said Mahendra
Bahadur Amatya, former president of Association of Pharmaceutical Producers of Nepal
(APPON).
Participants of a reception program hosted in honour of newly
appointed Health Minister Sharat Singh Bhandari, expressed the views that Nepalese
pharmaceuticals are lagging behind due to a lack of infrastructure as only 39 per cent of
its capacity is being used at present.
Nepalese pharmaceuticals contribute 1.2 billion rupees to the
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) annually, but Rs 3 billion flies out of the country in the
import of drugs every year.
Even after about 30 years in the business, the local
pharmaceuticals meet only 27 per cent of the total demand of drugs in the country.
However, G Narayan Bahadur Chhetri, acting general secretary
of APPON, expressed the hope that the government’s budgetary provision of requiring
all government offices to buy locally produced drugs would encourage the domestic
industry.
The participants also urged physicians to prescribe local
medicine to encourage the local drug producers thereby helping the nation to gradually
achieve self-reliance in medicines.
Dr Asfaq Shekh, Director General at the Department of Drug
Administration (DDA) said that the government has made a new provision of buying essential
drugs directly from the producers, especially in the case of foreign medicine, to ensure
the quality of drugs.
"The Department currently has manpower only to analyze
25,000 types of drugs currently, but we need to analyze at least 40,000 kinds of drugs
given the present situation," he said.
He also accepted that there has been occurred a serious
mistake in the field of drugs as the government went for quality control of drugs before
bringing out a policy and formulating an Act.
He said that the government is committed to ensure the
quality of drugs given its seriousness and has initiated action against six industries for
not maintaining quality. He also pointed out a need of establishing a separate
inspectorate for the quality control of drugs as the production is ever increasing.
Speaking on the occasion, Secretary at the Ministry of
Health, Mahendra Nath Aryal said that the government has introduced new drugs regulation
which is expected to help the local pharmaceuticals go ahead.
There are 40 local pharmaceuticals at present and they
produce 59 per cent of 273 essential drugs. They are self-dependent on 35 highly important
drugs and all the producers are following the Good Manufacture Practice (GMP) as
recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), it was also informed in the program.
On the same occasion, Health Minister Bhandari said that the
government was ready to extend any support to the drugs producers if they commit to
produce 50 per cent medicine of the total consumption over a period of five years.
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