Now, drug info just an SMS away

A list of various medicine brands and their prices may soon be just a short message service away.

The government is set to roll out an SMS-based helpline, which will enable consumers to seek information on various brands available in the market for their specific composition, with their prices.

For instance, if someone wants to buy Paracetamol, he or she can send an SMS to the helpline number and seek information about all the alternative brands such as Crocin, Aspirin, Dafalgan, etc. with their retail prices.

The government recently called for bids from service providers to manage the helpline and start the service at the earliest possible.

To ensure credibility of the information provided to the consumer, the government will itself monitor the database through the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority.

The idea is not only to make consumers aware of low-cost generics but also protect them from overcharging, an official said.

“There are a number of medicine brands available in the market with the same medicament composition, but in wide variation of prices.

“The prescription of doctors also varies from low-price to high-priced drugs for the same ailment.

“Our intention is to offer an SMS-based scheme that will enable patients to know the cheaper alternative medicines available,” the official told Business Standard.

The service, which would be available 24 x 7, will primarily cover essential medicines that are under price control.

The notification, issued on May 9 asking for bids, says, “Government of India will be the custodian of the information, for which a separate tripartite agreement would need to be signed between the contractor, mobile service provider and the Government of India.”

It adds the data base shall be “intellectual property of the NPPA and the government of India”.

Apart from branded medicines and their generic versions, the database will also include and provide information on imported medicines with the same composition, either in single or combination products.

For medicines with no alternative, the replying message would state, “No alternative suggested”.

Consumers can also SMS the brand name of a medicine and check its maximum retail price.

According to the official, the government aims to start the service within six months of awarding the contract to the service provider, who will cover a minimum of 90 per cent of the pharmaceutical market annually and will accordingly be required to update the database.

The Indian pharmaceutical market is estimated at Rs 70,000 crore (Rs 700 billion) yearly and growing at around 15 per cent annually.

Photograph: Sukree Sukplang/Reuters