Maintain The Balance

THE production and supply of essential drugs is an important facet of the health care system. Unless a balance is maintained in the production and supply of drugs, the quest to attain the motto of providing health facilities to the entire populace will remain a distant dream. The government must be on its heels for any eventualities in the health sector that may come in the form of epidemics. This readiness can only come through a comprehensive plan of action for the production of the essential drugs that are needed in adequate supply. Instead of producing the same drugs with different brand names, it would be more practical to limit the number of brands ensuring that the production of the essential drugs is carried out to meet the need of the people at large. In view of the need to maintain a steady flow of the essential drugs, the Department of Drug Administration has categorised medical drugs into two categories, namely life saving drugs and essential drugs. As per the prudent decision, a company acquiring the license to sell one category of drugs can only register for a maximum of two other brands of drugs. Similarly according to the new regulation, a company will not be entitled to register for selling one category of medicine under ten different brand names. One other decision that has been made is to restrict a foreign company from selling more than five different brands of the same medicine manufactured by the same company. This measure apart from helping the department to ensure quality control would also contribute towards avoiding the import of sub-standard medicine. There was a time when Nepal had to import medicines from abroad as the Royal Drugs was the only company that was under operation. The scenario has changed over the past years. Now we have 36 pharmaceutical companies, which have been contributing to strengthen the health sector. Minister for Health Sharat Singh Bhandari recently said that the government is ready to support and work in tandem with the pharmaceutical companies so that the country could meet fifty per cent of its total demand for medicines in the next five years. With the government’s commitment to boost the companies and the recent review of the drug production and regulation scheme, it could be hoped that the quest to provide health facilities to all is not far from coming into fruition.

Anti-Malaria Drive

IN a joint meet held the other day in Birgunj on a comprehensive plan for controlling malaria in the border areas of Nepal and India, it was revealed that about 9,000 to 10,000 people suffer from malaria. Similarly, around 60 per cent of malaria patients are found in the bordering districts of Dadeldhura, Kailali, Kanchanpur, Bardiya, Morang, Nawalparasi, Jhapa, Ilam, Dhanusa, Mahottari, Sindhuli and Bara. The meet was jointly organised by the Epidemiology and Disease Control Division, Ministry of Health and the South East Asia Regional office of World Health Organisation. The fact that the people are still succumbing to malaria even after over five decades of sustained and concerted efforts by the government to eradicate this malady from Nepal is an indication that either this disease is making a comeback or that the virus that causes this aliment has become immune to anti-malarial drugs. Or, for that matter, even both. The more so since most of the areas in Nepal where malaria is now said to be rife are replete with factors that not only assist the disease’s carrier—mosquito—to multiply in their millions, but also help in spreading the disease among the people. While almost all these malaria-prevalent districts are noted for their tropical or sub-tropical climatic and weather conditions, then most of these areas are well-known for their lush, alluvial plains and dense forest covers. Come the monsoon season and rains, these same areas get converted into a gigantic spawning ground for mosquitoes. On top of all this, these malarial districts share an open border with India. This, in turn, is coming in the way of the concerned authorities to not only eradicate malaria from the border areas but also to check the further spread of this disease.

Malaria is an enervating-cum-killer disease spread by mosquitoes that flourish in humid and unsanitary conditions. It’s not that the concerned authorities are not in the know about the methods to eradicate the mosquitoes’ breeding grounds or the drugs used to cure the disease. Were they not so, malaria would have been rampant in the Terai and hilly districts by now. Hence, the need of the hour is for the concerned authorities to launch a concerted malaria eradication campaign in the malaria-affected districts. To compliment the campaign, it should be backed by sustained efforts to teach the people the ways and means to fight and eradicate this disease.