[india-drug] Response to EDL at PHC

[hogerzeilh@who.ch]

Response to EDL at PHC
-----------------------

Dear India-drug participants,

I was very pleased to hear that the Federal Government has taken the 
Major step to support the availability of essential medicines for
primary health care country-wide. This approach can have an enormous
impact on access to health care, the credibility of the public
services, and the health of the people. It will also imply a
considerable investment in financial and human resources.

For these two reasons it will be important to make the best use of this
political initiative by a fully professional approach. I personally 
feel that the WHO India Essential Drugs Programme is now in a position
to access all the necessary expertise and experience within India to
make this inititive a success.

>From the side of WHO we all stand ready to help, both from the national
office, the regional office and the global office in Geneva. From 
Geneva, I would like to suggest that the new methods, used by WHO to
select Essential medicines for WHO's Model List of Essential Medicines,
can also be applied in a national or federal setting such as India.
These methods can be found on the <www.who.int/medicines> web site. 

For example, I could image the selection of a core list of primary care
medicines which would apply for all states, plus the possibility to the
states to add a small number of medicines, or additional quantities,
according to their specific needs. 

A good selection of effective, safe and cost-effective essential 
medicines is the most efficient approach to preventing unnecessary
waste. In my personal experience, when the selection is done well the
estimation of the necessary quantities is less important. In other
words: most unnecessary waste takes place by irrational selection, not
by over- or understocking (which can both be corrected relatively
easily by redistribution or re-ordering).

With best regards,

Hans V. Hogerzeil, MD, PhD, FRCP Edin
Coordinator for policy, access and rational use
Department of Essential Drugs and Medicines Policy
World Health Organisation, 1211 Geneva
Tel +41-22-7913528
Fax +41-22-7914167
<hogerzeilh@who.int> 


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