Medicines out of reach

14/03/2004

Inhalers for asthma are cheaper in India but Sabina, Arti, Moni and others like them still can't afford them. Common inhalers like seroflo 50 and asthalin by Cipla cost Rs 210 and Rs 70 each in India, seretide 50 (an inhaler produced by GlaxoSmithKline) costs Rs 610 and combination drugs such as Symbicort by Astra Zeneca cost Rs 1,079. At least 90 per cent of the children who come to Delhi's Kalavati Saran Children's Hospital can't afford inhalers, says Virendra Kumar, professor of paedriatics at the hospital. Mumbai-based pharmaceutical company Cipla, which holds 80 per cent of the asthma medicine market in India, says inhalers are cheaper than antibiotics, steroids and syrups. "The cost would turn out to be around 20 per cent lower if the drug is bought in bulk by the hospitals and government,' says Harpreet Kaur, product management team, Cipla Ltd, Mumbai. "This would be the most effective way to reduce prices further,' she says.

Rotahalers, inhalers containing powdered medicine, are another way to make asthma treatment affordable. Patients using rotahalers just have to buy the medicine but not an inhaler every time their drug is over. The per dose cost of asthalin with an ordinary inhaler is Rs 2.30 but is just Rs 1.65 per dose if taken with the help of a rotahaler, says Cipla. Seroflo costs Rs 4.20 per dose with an ordinary inhaler but Rs 1.96 with a rotahaler. Experts say inhaled medication is a better way to control asthma. "Oral drugs are of limited value and are not suited for long-term use,' says Kumar.

Delhi government hospitals give free inhalers but those run by the Central government don't. "Perhaps the government fears that its loss would be high if the inhalers are pilfered,' says Chhabra. But S K Mittal, head of paediatrics at LNJP Hospital, says this can be avoided by giving patients new inhalers only when they return empty ones.

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