Budget 2011 for Pharmaceutical sector - Quick review

The budget for Pharmaceutical point of view is neutral.Allocation to Health and family welfare ministry is increased to 26,760 crore up 20% from last year.

There was no change in weighted deduction on the in-house R&D which stands at 200%.
Now many here might not know what weighed deduction on the in-house R&D means.
So for them. weighed deduction on the in-house R&D means an Indian pharma company doing in-house Reseach and development will get Tax exemption on the amount spent. The exemption would be the double of what they spend on R&D. So say a company spending 200 crore on R&D will have no tax liability on 400 crore income. This was 150% till FY 2009 and in the last budget it was increased to 200%.

So this year it stood at 200%. Apart from it there is an increase of MAT from 18% to 18.5% but it will be nullified by the decrease in the surcharge to 5% from 7.5%.
There is little bit negative that the companies in SEZ are brought under MAT so it might affect a little to the pharma companies in SEZs.

But overall the budget for Pharma sector is neutral.

Need MBBS, MS (surgeon) certificate on Rent !!!

Hello Dear readers,

It is quite a long time I haven't posted here because I was bit busy in day to day life. I am back with a blog entry which I wanted to write for a long time. So here it is.

Need MBBS, MS (surgeon) certificate on Rent !!!

Have you ever read any ad asking for a certificate of a Doctor on rent? I am sure your answer would be clearly NO. For that matter even I have never read ads asking for a certificate of a doctor on rent. And I am sure if a doctor is asked to do so, he will never do it. BUT I have certainly heard about practice where a professional gives his certificate on rent to someone else. Can you guess that profession??

Some of my friends might guess the profession right as they know whom I will be making my target today. The professionals are 'Pharmacists'.

Yes, I am targeting my own profession today.

Yes, In India this practice of certificate on rent is prevalent in many parts. First of all lets see how this renting practice works. We have to look at the scenarios of D.Pharm and B.Pharm separately.

Scenario 1: A fresh D.Pharm comes out gets his licence of registered Pharmacist.

Now the person have two/three official ways to use his degree and licence.

1. To get a job in a pharmacy store. Whether government or private.

2. To get a job i n pharmaceutical marketing.

3. Go for further study. i.e B.Pharma or may be in some cases B.Sc.

If they choose to go for the option 1 its okay. But when they go for option 2/3 they willingly rent their licence to some local drug store in exchange of some bucks.

Scenario 2: A fresh B.Pharm graduate gets his degree and then gets his registration done.

What he looks for as soon as he gets his registration done is whom to rent his certificate.( If he is not going abroad). There are lot of option for a B.Pharma for his career. He can work in industry, sells &marketing, go for master in India or abroad. Most of the people who go for masters in India rent their certis to local drug store owners for bucks ranging from 1500 to 5000. The actual rule is that the pharmacist must be present at the drug store. But as they say 'Rules are made to break'. Now the authority or say drug inspector of that area gets regular 'chai-pani' in return. I am not here criticizing drug inspector. Why? Lets see.

Lets see the effect of this practice.

Say Mr. X, a B.Pharm graduate, rents his certificate and goes for masters in India. ( those who go for masters in India cannot rent it for the obvious reason that they cannot bribe the inspector for the proxy at the drug store from USA. I wonder they should try internet banking to do that ;) ) This rented certi gives right to a 10th fail person to run a drug store and also gives right to play with the health of general public. Mr. X is doing his masters and at the same time working at a drug store ( though on paper). He has swallowed a job by renting his certi which otherwise could give employment to a D.Pharm/B.Pharm person say Mr. Y. This way a lot of Mr. Xs rent their certis and decrease the chances of getting a job for Mr. Ys. Now these Mr. Y comes in direct or in direct competition with Mr. X. By this way we make disaster of over competition created by our own selves and lose to a 10th fail drug store owner.

By renting a person gets 2000 pm but he lost his own job. In any foreign country a huge chunk of the registered pharmacist work on the retail pharmacy. Retail pharmacy can create jobs in India for pharmacists if we don't sell our own profession to someone else for short term gain.

Second consequence of this practice is deteriorated health care system. Yes, this seriously affects the public health. I have seen medical shop owner who actually don't know much about a drug/molecule/product advising customers schedule 'H' drug.

Third, In a hod to make profit and benefit we break rules and then give bribe. In this process we are deteriorating the entire system. The only person who is winning in this process is the person who owns the drug store. All the other person from medicine field and most important patients stand to lose.

My appeal to people out there to at least think over this issue.

Is there any way out? Pour in your comments here.