Many drug-manufacturers in order to increase sale of their medicines have started packing medicine-strips with fifteen tablets or capsules in a strip rather than earlier ten. Idea behind such a move is to over-sale medicines because chemists usually sell medicines in full strips only, and unused tablets or capsules in part-strip are total waste for consumers. Only recently many medicines including like Amaryl-1, Telma-40 and Glyzid-M, Pan-D etc have been started being marketed in strips other than earlier of ten tablets or capsules. Several manufacturers of commonly advertised medicines like cough-lozenges have moved in reverse direction by having just eight cough-lozenges per strip rather than ten, only because consumers normally judge price of such commonly advertised medicines per strip overlooking reduced number of lozenges per strip. Both such styles are aimed for more sale and profit naturally harming consumer-interests.
Central government should make it compulsory for drug-manufacturers to adopt metric-system of packaging of medicines in strips. Normally medicine-strips should have ten tablets or capsules uniformly unless dose-wise administration requires packing in some other number. Otherwise permanent packaging-units for medicines should be units of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 or 500 gms or mltrs or kgs or litres or units unless exemption is sought for some dose-wise administration.
National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority-NPPA should immediately issue order in respect to save members of public from loot by drug-manufacturers through such uneven packaging.
MADHU AGRAWAL