Pharmageddon?
I made a trip to the neighborhood pharmacy, part of a chain run by a certain group of hospitals which has been in the TN news recently. (Yes, the one whose name is that of a Greek God, however misspelt). If you still need more hints you are either non-Indian or not Human.
They are usually known to stock most medicines, especially ones prescribed by Doctors practicing in their hospitals. Hence, the visit.
There were about 4-5 medicines to be bought from a prescription. But I needed only 2 tablets each, considering there was a follow-up visit to the Doctor tomorrow. Each of these meds cost upwards of 30/- to 50/- per tab. However, the pharmacy wouldn't sell me just two tabs and would want me to buy the whole strip of 10 and sometimes 15 or even 30 tabs. What would I do with the remaining 28 tabs if the Doctor decided to change the prescription and remove these? I wasn't sure why I had to buy the whole strip when I barely needed a portion of the same? One might argue, and quite reasonably so, that the Mfg and Expiry Date and Price etc is printed only on a portion of the strip and not on every tab casing. To which, I wonder how they sell other prescription drugs (which are even cheaper by the strip, like regular Paracetamols etc) individually, cutting them off a whole strip.
Is it a ploy by Big Pharma to make us spend more? Aren't we already paying through the nose for all these medicines? Or is it the poor pharmacies that struggle in returning expired / unsold inventory back to Pharma Distributors and Manufacturers thereof. Either ways, as consumers we end up with a medicine chest full of unused and unwanted medicines. In developed countries, as well as for those working in organizations where these expenses can be reimbursed, may not worry too much about the the additional expense. Insurance would end up paying for it, thus driving up the cost of insurance, and thereby the cost of medicines themselves. Extrapolating to rising inflation and Armageddon (hence the title, intended pun).
What other solutions can be there for this mess? One could always have the label printed on the back of each tab. Some tabs do have this. Or one could even automate the whole dispensing mechanism which would also prevent pharmacist errors in dosage or medicine names or variants. Also ensure pharmacies can then be run round the clock. The future could be that all prescriptions would be barcoded digitised to enable machine reading. In fact, this could be extrapolated to a Utopian scenario where even prescriptions cannot be faked, and help avoid Prescription Drug and Narco abuse.
The more I write, the more I realise there's so much that can be done. For now, I stop here to go have a swig of my cough syrup (not for the weekend buzz, but a genuine cough that has me bogged down.
They are usually known to stock most medicines, especially ones prescribed by Doctors practicing in their hospitals. Hence, the visit.
There were about 4-5 medicines to be bought from a prescription. But I needed only 2 tablets each, considering there was a follow-up visit to the Doctor tomorrow. Each of these meds cost upwards of 30/- to 50/- per tab. However, the pharmacy wouldn't sell me just two tabs and would want me to buy the whole strip of 10 and sometimes 15 or even 30 tabs. What would I do with the remaining 28 tabs if the Doctor decided to change the prescription and remove these? I wasn't sure why I had to buy the whole strip when I barely needed a portion of the same? One might argue, and quite reasonably so, that the Mfg and Expiry Date and Price etc is printed only on a portion of the strip and not on every tab casing. To which, I wonder how they sell other prescription drugs (which are even cheaper by the strip, like regular Paracetamols etc) individually, cutting them off a whole strip.
Is it a ploy by Big Pharma to make us spend more? Aren't we already paying through the nose for all these medicines? Or is it the poor pharmacies that struggle in returning expired / unsold inventory back to Pharma Distributors and Manufacturers thereof. Either ways, as consumers we end up with a medicine chest full of unused and unwanted medicines. In developed countries, as well as for those working in organizations where these expenses can be reimbursed, may not worry too much about the the additional expense. Insurance would end up paying for it, thus driving up the cost of insurance, and thereby the cost of medicines themselves. Extrapolating to rising inflation and Armageddon (hence the title, intended pun).
What other solutions can be there for this mess? One could always have the label printed on the back of each tab. Some tabs do have this. Or one could even automate the whole dispensing mechanism which would also prevent pharmacist errors in dosage or medicine names or variants. Also ensure pharmacies can then be run round the clock. The future could be that all prescriptions would be barcoded digitised to enable machine reading. In fact, this could be extrapolated to a Utopian scenario where even prescriptions cannot be faked, and help avoid Prescription Drug and Narco abuse.
The more I write, the more I realise there's so much that can be done. For now, I stop here to go have a swig of my cough syrup (not for the weekend buzz, but a genuine cough that has me bogged down.
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