PGI will come up with its own pharmacy

PGIMER officials are working towards setting up its own pharmacy, which will provide minimum 50 per cent discount (or more) on all drugs to its patients. The final report has been approved by the PGI director and the location to set up the pharmacy has been decided.

The renovation work has started and the authorities claim that in the next seven-eight months, the PGI will come up with its own pharmacy. The purpose would be to cater to poor patients coming to PGI who are at times ‘overcharged’ by private chemists, officials said.

Earlier, on June 15, the final report about the PGI’s own pharmacy was approved by the institute’s Director and the pharmacy committee. The report was prepared by the six-member committee after studying the best pharmacy models of other hospitals.

“Now, we are working on the Standard Operating Protocol, which will be presented to the Standing Finance Committee for clearance. The meeting will be held in August,” said Dr Arvind Rajwanshi, head, cytology department. He is also heading the six-member committee involved in the project.

The institute would demand nearly Rs 50 crore from the Health Ministry for execution of the project.

“The amount will be refundable. We are positive about getting our proposal and funds sanctioned from the health ministry. Once approved, we will start the execution work,” Dr Rajwanshi added.

To begin with, the PGI is going to start one pharmacy, which will be in the place of current pharmacy in the Nehru building. “We have already directed that the current pharmacy be vacated as we have to start the renovation. Currently, it caters to only staff, but the new pharmacy will serve all PGI patients. It will have eight counters opened for different categories like indoor, outdoor patients and others,” Dr Rajwanshi said.

Further, in the standard operating protocols other issues like staff recruitment, legal formalities, storage facilities, cold-room, method of procuring medicines, administration charges and other details will be decided.

Unlike the old pharmacy, the new one will not come under the Medical Superintendent. It will be chaired by an independent professor in-charge and will be following all financial rules.

“PGI will directly contact the manufacturing companies for procuring drugs. We will procure medicines at high discount from companies and will sell it further to patients. Patients will be given medicines at minimum 50% of discount. It can be more than 50% but not less. Nothing will be free,” said Dr Rajwanshi.

Talking about another facility, Dr Rajwanshi said, “We are planning to increase the hospital admission fees by Rs 100-150 per day and in return we will supply to patients basic things such as cotton, gauge, needles, bandage, IV fluids in every ward.”

He said that these items are most commonly used in wards for indoor patients, and every now and then attendants have to run to the chemist shop.

http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/chandigarh/pgi-pharmacy-plan-gets-push/99/

The Dadha Group India e-Pharmacy – NetMeds.com launched

Starts with Chennai as the distribution hub, to expand its warehousing presence to 16 cities by 2016

The Dadha Group owned NetMeds.com has announced the commencement of its operations.

Billing itself as ‘India Ki Pharmacy’, the site offers an impressive selection of both prescription drugs and non-prescription products (OTC) drugs, supplying over 25,000 stock keeping units (SKUs) across India from its first warehousing hub in Chennai.

Company plans to offer 24-hour delivery in Chennai and two to four-day delivery in other cities of the country. NetMeds plans to expand its presence by setting up warehouses through tie-ups in 16 metro and non-metro cities in next 12-18 months period.

The portal offers prescription medication users an opportunity to select their required medications from more than 260 drug categories for the chronic conditions, such as diabetes, hypertension and cholesterol control.

Commenting on the occasion Pradeep Dadha, Promoter, NetMeds.com said, ‘Not everyone knows the exact name of the tablet they are taking, but they all know the condition they’re dealing with. Likewise, they may not be able to read their prescription, but that’s where our pharmacists can help. With this portal we aim to reach the third-tier cities and more remote areas where drug availability is limited. Prescription medicines will be dispensed strictly and only against a valid prescription from a registered medical practitioner.”

Apart from branded drugs, portal will offer generic alternatives for every medicine ordered on the website. The Indian pharmacy market is estimated at Rs 83,000 crores with drug consumed for chronic aliment such as diabetics, blood pressure, hypertension, etc. accounting for over 40 per cent of the share.

In addition to the prescription drug catalogue, Netmeds offers eight categories of over the counter (OTC) remedies for pain, category for diabetic support like monitors and test strips, personal care section and others. In the non-prescription category, there are currently a total of 3,000 SKU’s including many of India’s top brands like Loreal, Fogg and Axe. The current, and ever-expanding catalogue of prescription tablets, capsules, ointments and compounds boasts 25000 SKU’s, including both brands and generics. Products are sourced from more than 185 Indian manufacturers, including a home page menu of the top 25, such as Sun, Ranbaxy, Cipla and Dr Reddy.

Pradeep Dadha, Promoter and the MAPE Advisory Group have together chipped in Rs 60 crores in NetMeds Marketplace in the initial round of funding.

http://www.financialexpress.com/article/healthcare/happening-now/pan-india-e-pharmacy-netmeds-com-launched/85030/

Telangana State pharmacist has a pill for prescriptions

HYDERABAD: A one-man campaign that started in the sleepy town of Nalgonda in 2012 is on its way to rewrite (literally) medical history — making it mandatory for doctors to write prescriptions in capital letters so as to make these legible. Prescriptions, the way they are written now, have taken lives.

While a formal gazette notification by the Union health ministry is round the corner, the Medical Council of India (MCI) is circulating a prescription format (to be used by doctors) to all state medical councils across the country. The letter, which TOI has a copy of, says doctors must write the name of medicines, dosage, strength, duration and total quantity in "capital letters only".

From his run-down pharmacy in Nalgonda, 47-year-old Chilkuri Paramathma used the Right to Information Act, filed PILs and wrote innumerable letters to the Union health ministry, the MCI, the Drugs Controller-General of India (DCGI) and the Director-General of Health Services (DGHS) to enforce his 'prescription' for prescriptions.

"In my 25 years of practice as a pharmacist, names of medicines always fascinated me. There are several similarly spelt drugs that can stump a pharmacist as one single letter or even a hypen can sometimes be the only difference between two completely opposing drugs. Imagine the havoc it can cause," said Paramathma.

On February 22, 2012, Paramathma got to know of a Hyderabad-based pregnant woman who was advised Microgest 200 mg (used for fetus growth). "So illegible was the writing in the prescription that the pharmacist mistook Microgest for Misoprotol — which is used for abortion. The woman lost her baby," he recounted.

In July 2013, a patient died in Hyderabad after he was administered a wrong injection by a pharmacy. The drug control administration later shut down the pharmacy.

Paramathma cites a plethora of drugs that spell and sound almost the same, but have quite different effects on the body. "Consider L-CIT and L-COT, KARDIA and KARDIN, JUCAN and JUGAM, IKA and IKKA, IDEBEN and IDIBEND, NEPOMOX and NEPOTOX, NIFDEC and NIFEDINE, OCUVIT and OCUWET, E-PRIN and EPRIL... The list is endless," he says.

Following several missives to various departments and a hearing at the Andhra Pradesh HC, a division bench in 2014 directed MCI to look into the aspect of illegible handwriting of doctors. Following this, the Union health ministry directed MCI to look into the case.

Now with formal notification on the way, doctors and MCI have welcomed the move. "This man's move has catapulted the MCI into action. Once it's a law, the responsibility will also lie with the pharmacy council as well as drug control administration," MCI member K Ramesh Reddy told TOI.

True to his name, Paramathma has just given a boon of life to many.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Telangana-pharmacist-has-a-pill-for-prescriptions/articleshow/47714106.cms

Target selling clinics, pharmacies to CVS Health for $1.9 billion

Target’s pharmacies, clinics, will be rebranded as CVS/pharmacy and MinuteClinic locations.

Target’s TGT 0.19% pharmacies will soon all become CVS locations.

The discount retailer and CVS Health CVS 0.39% announced a deal worth $1.9 billion Monday under which Target will sell its 1,660 pharmacies and 80 clinics, which will be rebranded as CVS/pharmacy and MinuteClinic locations. These will be operated as “stores within a store.”

For Target, the deal gives it cash injection a few months after it took a $5 billion write down on its aborted Canadian business, and the deal lets it concentrate on its e-commerce and core retail businesses. It will also allow it to improve its health and wellness offerings, a key prong in Target CEO Brian Cornell’s strategy for rejuvenating its business.

As for CVS Health, the deal allows it to expand its retail footprint by hundreds of locations as it competes with Walgreens WBA 0.82% , currently the largest U.S. drugstore operator. In particular, it will get a stronger presence in key markets such as Seattle, Denver and Salt Lake City. CVS/pharmacy currently has 7,800 drugstores (Walgreens has more than 8,000.)

Read about Target in the new Fortune 500

CVS Health said it will open as many as 20 new clinics in Target stores within three years of the close of the deal, part of its plan to operate 1,500 MinuteClinics by 2017. Target plans to build out five to 10 small, flexible format stores within two years under the TargetExpress name. Those will include a CVS/pharmacy.

“By partnering with CVS Health, we will offer our guests industry leading health care services, and at the same time, sharpen our focus on elevating the way we deliver wellness products and experiences to our guests,” Brian Cornell, Target Chairman and CEO, said in a statement.

http://fortune.com/2015/06/15/target-cvshealth/

MedPlus launches India’s first pharmacy e-tailer service in Hyderabad

MedPlus, a leading pharmacy retailer with over 1240 stores across India, has launched India’s first of its kind pharmacy e-commerce service – ‘Click, Pick & Save’ in Hyderabad. Very soon the company is planning to expand this service to more than 50 cities in the country.

This is first of its kind service being provided to customers in India. Through this e-tailer service, one can search, select medicines, compare alternatives and place an order or just upload prescription and book order. “The main aim of this e-tailer service is to provide buyers the opportunity to harness the benefits of e-commerce in healthcare like never before,” said Dr Madhukar Gangadi, founder & CEO of MedPlus Health Services.

This new services helps the customers to pick the medicines within 6 hrs from the nearest MedPlus store and can save up to 15 per cent on cost of medicines and 5-30 per cent on FMCG products.

To avail the ‘Click, Pick & Save’ service, pharmacy customers can log onto www.medplusmart.com, search & select (from over 30,000 products) the medicines and FMCG products they need, or just scan & upload their prescription to the site, in which case a MedPlus representative will call and book the order.

As current government regulations do not allow medicines to be delivered to buyer’s homes, customers can pick up their order from their nearest MedPlus store in Hyderabad within six hours of placing an order. The online store offers lucrative discounts and let users book reward points with the FlexiRewards scheme of MedPlus.

“The new initiative is an important milestone for us and we are confident that it will revolutionize the retail pharmacy landscape in the country. Our aspiration is to provide customers with seamless shopping for medicines and other health and personal care items combining offline and online services. With the added convenience and benefits this service brings to the customers, we expect to double our consumer base within a year. We are all set to replicate this model shortly in the 12 states where we have presence,” Dr Madhukar added.

Dr Surendra Mantena, COO, MedPlus Health Services said that the online service not only guarantees availability of quality medicines to all customers anywhere in the city, but also provides valuable information about drug usage, side effects etc, and allows them to compare prices of equivalent brands.

http://www.pharmabiz.com/ArticleDetails.aspx?aid=87587&sid=1

Prospectus for engg, pharmacy courses online

The directorate of technical education released the prospectus for direct admissions to second year of professional degree courses in engineering and pharmacy, online for the first time this year. Like in the case of the Goa common entrance test, no print version of the prospectus will be made available for direct admissions, so students have to print and fill the form on the online prospectus.

The filled forms for direct admissions will be accepted by the directorate from June 24 to 27.

Engineering diploma holders can seek direct admissions to second year professional degree engineering courses in the streams of civil, mechanical, electrical and electronics, telecommunication, information technology and mining engineering, depending on the stream of their diploma degree.

"BSc degree holders shall be considered for admission to vacant seats, if any, under direct lateral entry into second year of degree course in engineering, only after filling the seats with eligible students from diploma stream," stated a provision in the prospectus.

These students will be eligible for admissions to BE degree courses in the streams of electrical and electronics, electronics and telecommunication, computer engineering and information technology.

For the admissions purpose, separate merit lists will be prepared and displayed for engineering courses for all eligible BSc degree holders and eligible diploma holders in engineering. There will also be a separate merit list for all eligible students for the pharmacy course.

All students for direct admissions will be considered only for general seats and no seats will be reserved for any category in the admission process.

The directorate of technical education plans to take all admission process to professional degree courses in Goa online in the near future and as a first step no printed prospectus has been sold this year for admissions to professional degree courses and direct admissions to second year of engineering and pharmacy degree courses.

http://www.goacom.com/goa-news-highlights/25792-prospectus-for-engg-pharmacy-courses-online

Ali Health to become Alibaba's pharmacy platform

After a 15-day share trade suspension, Hong Kong-listed Ali Health Information Technology announced on April 15 that it will acquire online pharmacy assets from its parent company Alibaba Group Holding, the largest e-commerce operator in China.

Ali Health will issue new shares and convertible bonds to Alibaba under the terms of the deal, which is estimated at about HK$19.4 billion (US$2.5 billion).

With the acquisition, Alibaba's stake in Ali Health will increase from 38% to 53%, Shanghai's China Business News reported. Ali Health will also sell convertible bonds to Alibaba, which will further increase the parent company's share to 54.6% if they are exchanged for common shares, the paper said.

As a result, the report said, Ali Health is expected to become the major growth driver of Alibaba's online pharmacy business.

Following the announcement of the acquisition, shares of Ali Health rose about 77% to HK$12 (US$1.54) in early trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange April 15, and the stock ended up 80.83% at HK$12.26 (US$1.57) at close of trade.

The paper said the online pharmacy assets Ali Health will acquire are held under Alibaba's TMall's pharmacy marketplace and include 186 online-licensed pharmacies that sell non-prescription medicines, medical equipment, contact lenses and health food supplements.

In the period March 2014 to March 2015, TMall Pharmacy posted revenues of 4.7 billion yuan (US$758 million), which helped to boost the value of the operations in the acquisition deal, the paper said.

In addition, the pharmacy launched an express delivery service in, Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou in February, allowing consumers to obtain medicine from their nearest bricks-and-mortar drug store within three hours of placing an online order. The service has boosted the value of the pharmacy's operations, the report said.

The 186 online pharmacies that will be transferred in the acquisition deal have Type C certification under China's internet and drug transaction services qualification system, the report said. This will help Ali Health set up a comprehensive distribution network and enhance its efforts to build a cloud computing technology-based medical services platform, according to the report.

Alibaba chief operating officer Zhang Yong told the paper that his group wants to take advantage of cloud computing technology to improve medical services in China.

According to the report, Alibaba is aiming to set up a system, using cloud computing technology that will allow interaction between patients and doctors. Patients will be able to seek advice and doctors will be able to issue prescriptions that can be filled via the group's medical services platform, the report said.

There is much room for growth in China's online medical services if the country lifts its tight controls on that line of business, the paper said.

In the United States, health costs account for about 15% of the country's gross domestic product, but in China with a population of 1.3 billion, the ratio is between 5% and 6%, the report said.

Apart from Alibaba, other two online business giants–Baidu and Tencent–are eyeing the huge growth potential of China's online pharmacy business, the report said.

http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20150419000011&cid=1102