BackPharmacies seek a cure for panic buying as customers rush to stockpile medicines
People want to buy medicines in bulk for various general ailments fearing a supply shortage in future
PremiumFor Shivnath Kumar, an executive working at a retail medical store in South Delhi, the biggest challenge at work these days is tackling panic buying of medicines by people anticipating a shortage, which serves as a self-fulfilling prophesy.
Kumar has been working at Global Healthline, which runs the retail chemist chain 98.4, for about seven years now, and he has rarely seen such behaviour.
Shortly after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement on Tuesday of a nationwide lockdown for three weeks, people formed long queues—albeit maintaining a safe distance from one another—at the doors of many chemists, including where Kumar serves.
“Now people are in panic mode. They want to buy in bulk medicines for various general ailments fearing a supply shortage in future. We advise them against it but many are under pressure from family members or others to stockpile these medicines," said Kumar.
This trend, he said, started after 20 March. Many go for hand sanitisers and antiseptic liquids in addition to medicines for fever, blood pressure and other ailments.
This, he said, has led to a shortage of medicines like Crocin, a brand of paracetamol taken for fevers.
While many chemists have the supplies, the challenge has been moving stocks from warehouses to retail stores due to the lockdown.
The situation, however, is improving as authorities are issuing passes for essential services to ship goods across state borders.
Modi announced the three-week lockdown on Tuesday as a desperate measure to contain the spread of the coronavirus, saying even nations with the most advanced medical facilities and technology have been grappling with the unprecedented health crisis caused by the pandemic.
The Modi government, which has been trying to nurse an already slowing economic growth rate back to health, took the desperate measure which could have major economic consequences, in order to save lives.
Factory shutdowns and disruptions to economic activity could impact livelihoods and corporate earnings for the fourth quarter of FY20 and the first quarter of FY21 with adverse implications for the government’s revenue collections.
In the capital, police have barricaded the main roads to ensure that only those involved in essential supplies and services are allowed. There is no restriction in visiting the neighbourhood grocery store.
Kumar said that his employer has issued documents to show the security personnel to let them get to work.
According to media reports, many people involved in essential services including doctors, nurses and airline crew faced instances of ostracism from people because of their proximity to potentially infected people.
Kumar says he too has heard such reports, but wasn’t sure if they were correct. He and his colleagues have so far not faced any such hardship.
The pharmacy where Kumar works does not allow customers in. Chemists greet them at the doorstep, take the orders or prescription and deliver the medicines.
“About 95% of the people come wearing masks. The day passes as normal, but by evening, people flock in," he said.
The coronavirus crisis is also threatening to deal a larger blow to India’s pharmaceutical industry, which depends on imports from China for key active ingredients used in production, known as bulk drugs.
In FY19, Indian companies sourced bulk drugs worth $3.9 billion from China, which accounted for about three-fourths of the total bulk drugs India imported in that year.
With supply chain disruptions, Indian industry has to find alternative sources for bulk drugs, which is not an easy task.
India’s pharmaceutical industry, which is known for exporting low-cost generics the world over, depends on Chinese raw materials for its competitiveness.
The domestic industry is also marked by a large network of retail trade although in the past two decades, several pharmacy chains have sprung up.
This has heightened competition as well as faster adoption of best practices like having qualified pharmacists being present at retail stores.
An executive with a large multinational drug maker said if the supply problems continue beyond April, there may be a shortage of drugs like antibiotics and vitamins in the country.
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