Panic stockpiling of drugs by Cardiac and Diabetics amidst lockdown creating “below normal” drugs availability

NPPA red-flags the Narendra Modi government on dip in availability of insulin and cardiac drugs

Mumbai: As India fights against the coronavirus, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has in a letter written to the Ministry of Health drawing the attention of the government to potentially serious development mentioning that cardiac and anti-diabetic drugs which includes insulin availability is “below normal”.

The situation has arisen due to excessive panic buying of insulin and cardiac vascular drugs by the patients in the lockdown. Diabetes and Heart ailments diseases are commonly witnessed in India.

On March 24, the drug availability watchdog body – NPPA wrote to the Central Drug Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), wing of Health Ministry on the stock of cardiac and  anti-diabetic medicines, including insulin, is at “below normal” levels in the country.

The letter written by Dr V G Somani, Drug Controller of India (DCGI) who heads CDSCO states that: “You are requested to issue instructions to the drug manufacturing companies to accelerate their operations and ensure the replenishment of stocks of medicines through wholesalers, distributors, retailers (and) chemists, so as to reach the hospitals or clinical establishments and patients timely.”

A copy of the letter is accessed by TheNews21 written to the Health Ministry’s CDSCO.

The NPPA body has asked Ministry of Health, CDSCO to ensure sufficient availability of drugs urgently for all times to the patients suffering from diabetics and cardiac related ailments.

Rajiv Singhal, General Secretary of All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggist (AIOCD) said,” the Chemists at present have limited stock. The situation of scarcity of anti-diabetic and cardiac drug arose due to several factors in last one month of lockdown. The patients taking treatment for diabetes and cardiac ailments had developed fear of non-availability of the drug and hence lot of customers have stockpiled these medicines under panic. In the initial days of lockdown the patients took three-months stock of insulin and other drugs, thus a huge requirement to hospitals and in private persons is now generated.”

“At present the stocks of these drugs are “below minimal” with Chemists across the country and is only for 10-days and hence when we approached the NPPA, they have written to the Central government on urgently increasing the manufacturing of these drugs,” added Singhal.

The AIOCD has 8.5 lakh chemists and distributors that include wholesalers and retailers.  The AIOCD has asked its wholesalers and retailers not to give anti-diabetic and cardiac ailments drugs to patients for more than a month.