Medications not ordered; KSDP not wanted by government as well

• Orders given to other state companies

KANNUR: When there is a demand for drugs produced by Kerala State Drugs and Pharmaceuticals (KSDP) in other states, it is alleged that the institution is neglected in its own state. The Medical Services Corporation, which buys and distributes drugs to hospitals in the state, mostly places orders with big drug companies in other states only.

When KSDP used to get 30-65 crores worth of orders from the state in the past, this year it has received only 7 crores of orders, compared to 63 crores last year. Although there is a stipulation that 70 percent of medicines for institutions like primary health centers to medical colleges should be procured from KSDP, not even a fourth is being procured at present. Medical Services Corporation mostly places orders with companies in states like Andhra, Telangana and Gujarat.

The backlash is the false propaganda from some centers that KSDP medicines are of poor quality. However, KSDP says that such allegations are not true and there is huge demand for their medicines in states like Tamil Nadu and Andhra. Drugs like Amoxicillin, Ampicillin, Doxycycline, and Azithromycin are in high demand in other states. KSDP manufactures 92 types of medicines, including anti-inflammatory and anti-diabetic medicines. The neglect comes at a time when steps are being taken to bring KSDP's own drug for cancer to the market by next year.

Government doctors are also backstabbing

It is alleged that the propaganda that KSDP medicines are of poor quality is being done by some government hospital doctors in the state. Recently, there was a campaign that the medicine supplied to a government hospital in Kollam was of poor quality. However, the KSDP officials say that the lack of quality was discovered when the inspection was carried out on medicines that were not distributed till the expiry date. KSDP had also found that people including some doctors were working behind this. The investigation report on the incident of burying the medicine to be distributed to the patients in Thrissur Medical College is yet to come out.