A question from the Parliament " regarding the influence of vaccine-makers on the immunisation plan" raised the issue of funding the Indian Academy of Pediatrics (IPA), the body representing more than 23,000 pediatricians in India. A look at its finances shows how much depends on the IPA on the financing of the pharmaceutical industry, especially the vaccine manufacturers.
In 2016, IPA obtained Rs 5.5 crore, of which nearly 30% were combined revenues of Pedicon (55 lakh) and action plan (Rs 1.1 crore). Pedicon's share is usually much greater, affecting Rs 93 lakh and Rs 94 lakh in 2013 and 2014 respectively, including the auction charge of Rs 15 lakh that the organizing branch must pay the central IPA (CIAP).
Most of the industry's funding comes from the sponsorship of the annual IPA conference, Pedicon, and from the financing of the Association's activities under the Presidential Action. Pedicon is supposed to be a university conference, but discussions about it seem to revolve mainly around the revenues it generates and the sharing of profits between the central PIA and the organizing branch in a ratio of 30:70.
The growing dependence on the industry was raised by the Treasurer of the IAP, Pravin J Mehta, in the annual report of 2013: "Our annual spending is about 2.77 crores. Our fixed income ... is about 1.77 crores. This means that each year we depend on the variable income of rupees a crore ... Big chunk of this variable income is from Pedicon. "
The "primary sponsor" of Pedicon 2017, held in Bengaluru last January, was Bharat Biotech, a leading immunization company. According to the brochure, platinum sponsorship was Rs 5 crore. Was Bharat Biotech the platinum sponsor? Dr. Govindaraj M, the organization's chief president, claims not to know. Other vaccination companies such as Wyeth and Sanofi have also received an important mention at the site, which could mean they were sponsors of diamonds (Rs 4 crore), gold (Rs 3 Crore) or silver (Rs 2 crore). Judging from the sponsorship brochure, this conference could have raked more than Rs 15 crore.
The annual IPA report of 2015 talks about escalating costs for the annual conference, with costs per delegate rising from Rs 10,000 for four days to over Rs 20,000 over the last three years. Total spending more than doubled, from about Rs 4.5 crore in 2010 to over Rs 9 crore by 2014.
In a critical note in the annual report, Dhananjay Shah, founder convener of the first finance committee, wrote: "Pedicon organizers have been kindly making luxurious arrangements for the 50 strange group of newly elected EB members who are provided five Stars at a luxury hotel for five whole days during their Pedicon as an expense item of the Pedicon.The EB meeting is actually a CIAP function (central IAP) and has nothing to do with the Pedicon event.
Gala cultural evenings and bar nights raise the cost of these so-called academic conferences. However, they are not specific to IPA. Almost all doctors' associations organize these ostensibly sponsored conferences ostensibly to educate physicians. From the annual conference of national associations of specific specialties to those organized by the branches of the State or the city, all are financed by pharmaceutical companies which pay crores to oblige doctors.
By 2014, only the PIA had 27 branches of state and 314 branch offices of districts. The Society of Cardiology of India has 26 branches of state, excluding sub-specialty councils. Doctors insist that they are never influenced by the generosity of these companies, but this raises the question of why profit-oriented companies would be spending crores without waiting for returns in the form of a "prescription of support" for doctors.
