The Self-Help Groups (SHGs) established 260 generic medical shops in the State under the brand ‘Anna Sanjeevani Generic Medical Stores’ nearly two years ago. While some groups are successfully managing the show, a few of them are running in losses for various reasons, including wrong location and non-cooperation from the Rural Medical Practitioners (RMPs).
According to information, more than 100 shops are running in losses. The Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP) officials, who studied the reasons, found that the RMPs were discouraging the patients from buying generic medicines. Also, some of the shops were not centrally located or easily accessible. About 30 to 35% shops were not achieving breakeven and thus making the groups uninterested in the business, sources say.
The government also plans to open 662 shops more in all the 13 districts this year. The women are being trained to handle the sale of medicines. The SERP has also developed separate software for the women to handle the generic medicines. It is also engaged in identifying places to open the stores in the mandal headquarters. When contacted, SERP Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Krishna Mohan said an action plan was being prepared to ensure that no shop incurred losses. The stores would be located at a central location so that people could easily reach it and buy the medicine.
“Now that the government has plans to set up 662 shops more, we are physically inspecting the suitable places. Once the stores are set up, we would assign them to the women who have already been selected and trained,” he says.
The response in the urban areas is encouraging compared to the rural areas. Take for instance, the shop at the GGH in Vijayawada has footfalls of at least 100 patients per day. It crosses 150 on Mondays, when more Out Patients (OP) turn up. D. Rani, pharmacist at the Anna Sanjeevani store at the GGH, says, “A majority of medicines prescribed by the doctors are available in the stores. The patients benefit a lot as the medicines cost less and the price varies from 50% to 80%.”
Each SHG invests not less than ₹2.5 lakh, which includes ₹1.5 lakh on infrastructure and ₹1 lakh for medicines. The SHG pays a salary of ₹8,500 to the pharmacist on whose name the licence for the shop is issued.
