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Delay in contracts hits rural condom market
SHANTANU NANDAN SHARMA

TIMES NEWS NETWORK [SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2004 04:21:13 AM] PATNA: The delay on the part of the government in finalising rate contracts for condoms almost every year has caused serious problems for organisations involved in social marketing.

The contracts, finalised by the health ministry, decide who to give the award for manufacturing condoms and also at what rates. These are then passed over to the social marketing organisations at a subsidised rate, and the concerned organisations in turn market them in rural areas after giving different brand names to the products.

Though the present government is understood to have changed some rules regarding rate contracts on condoms, the organisations involved in social marketing, are yet to get their quota for this year.

Janani, which has condom brands like Mithun and Plan X, has confirmed that it has not received this year’s quota as yet. Gopi Gopalakrishnan, the head of the Janani programme, told ET, “The problem is that we receive the subsidised condoms at irregular intervals.

When it comes, it comes in bulk. But now we haven’t received it for a very long period. It’s good that the government is phasing out the concept of distributing free condoms. But it should regularly supply the subsidised ones to social marketing organisations.

We are, however, told that the present government is formulating some mechanism whereby the problems of delayed supply will be suitably addressed. This is needed as the government targets 1 billion pieces through social marketing”

In fact, Janani sells Mithun, a pack of six condoms at Rs 5, and Plan X, a pack of three luxury condoms at Rs 12. These have wide acceptance in rural areas because of their low price tags.

Hawaldar Rai, who runs one of Janani’s centres at Biyapur village near Patna, said. “Villagers are very much aware of different contraceptive methods. I sell around 40 packets of condoms per month. But the problem is the irregular inflow of these contraceptives”.

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