The country’s pharmaceutical industry has witnessed a phenomenal expansion year after year matching, perhaps, only its automobile industry in monetary terms. The yearly output of medicines in the land is estimated at two lakh crore and, in wider sense, its healthcare sector has reportedly exceeded five lakh rupees worth annually. Small wonder, then, that retail trading in medicines too has expanded as reflected by the proliferation of shops selling medicines, both over-the-counter and prescribed by qualified doctors, Mysuru providing a glaring example. Even villages hosting relatively well-off residents can be seen doing business in medicines. The rising trends of pharmaceutical industry’s expansion, monetary value of healthcare industry and retail trading in medicines may also witness exponential rates in years ahead thanks to a) Expansion of the country’s headcount, b) Incidence of diseases rising in both kinds and number of victims, c) Establishment of more medical colleges with higher capacity of student intake and d) Increased investment on health services including hospitals and diagnostic centres by Government as well as private managements.
India’s legacy of knowledge in the important area of personal healthcare spanning several centuries has tended to be out of favour on the part of people at large, more so in urban spaces, although we often hear voices of the powers that be in successive Governments in support of encouraging indigenous systems of healthcare, which is merely tokenism.
