Date:11/10/2005 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/10/11/stories/2005101103710100.htm

Back Drug cos keen to send relief to Pakistan

P.T. Jyothi Datta

"We are talking to the Pakistani High Commission and the Indian Ministry of External Affairs to work out what medicines are required and how it can be sent to people who need it, since currently, trade is not allowed between the two countries."

Mumbai, Oct. 10

THEY do not carry out direct business with each other during normal times. But drug companies in India are waiting in the wings to send relief in the form of medicines to Pakistan, where Saturday's earthquake left several thousands of people dead, injured and homeless.

The IPA is a platform of 13 domestic drug companies, including some of the biggest names in the Indian pharmaceutical sector such as Ranbaxy, Sun Pharma, Wockhardt, Dr Reddy's Laboratories and Lupin.

Medicines in Pakistan are about three to five times their price in India and Indian medicines have often made their way into the neighbouring market through porous borders. Some others procure medicines from India through more legal, though circuitous channels via Dubai or the UK. Still others send bulk drugs or ingredients that go into a medicine to Pakistan, but there is a high rate of duty, an industry representative said.

Meanwhile, within the country, Mumbai's Sun Pharma has a facility at Jammu. "Though there is no impact on our factory in Jammu, we remain very concerned about the general situation created due to the earthquake. We are coordinating with the local authorities to assist with medicines in this hour of calamity on humanitarian grounds," said Mr Dilip Sanghvi, Chairman and Managing Director of the company. But the trouble with sending relief, medicines in this case, to a disaster-struck region is that there is no coordinated effort or agency, said an industry representative, recalling similar experiences following the tsunami late last year.

The domestic drug industry is worth about Rs 30,000 crore and is capable and willing to send medicines in the times of disaster, he said, underlining the need for co-ordinated procurement and distribution.

An official with another domestic pharma industry association said he had not heard from the Centre on medicines needed in the quake-hit regions in Jammu and Kashmir, or across the border, though it is more than two days since the earthquake struck.