Montego Bay-based pharmaceutical company, Indies Pharma continued its philanthropic mission with the donation of free medical supplies to Hope Health Clinic last week.

According to the head of Indies Pharma Dr Guna Muppuri, last week was the final of his company’s $1.5- million donation of medical supplies to Hope Health Clinic over a one-year period.

Indies Pharma was incorporated in December 2003 by Dr Guna Muppuri and his wife Vishnu Muppuri. The company transitioned to the sale of products under the Bioprist brand in 2010, and two years later acquired Trident Pharmacy.

Currently, the company distributes more than 150 prescription and non-prescription generic pharmaceutical products for Bioprist Holdings Ltd under the Bioprist brand.

Indies Pharma provides its service across the island through more than 400 pharmacies, private and public hospitals, and government agencies — including the National Health Fund — as well as through medical practitioners, and directly to individual end-users.

“Lately, we are giving nearly $1.5 million worth of free medicines to one clinic in Good Shepherd Foundation. This is in addition to other charities we are doing across Jamaica,” Dr Muppuri told the Jamaica Observer.

“Today [Tuesday] is the closing of the yearly volume, so today is the beginning of the new year.”

Present at the handover of the medical supplies were Manan Gajjar and Ramesh Souri, top executives of Ind-Swift Limited, one of the best-known pharmaceutical companies in India, known for its drug research and development. Ind-Swift Limited is a major supplying partner for Indies Pharma.

Jean Lue, assistant director of Hope Clinic at the Good Shepherd Foundation Medical Centre on Orange Street, Montego Bay, who was on hand at Indies Pharma’s Montego Bay headquarters to receive the medical supplies, expressed gratitude for the generosity of Indies Pharma.

“We are very happy, very grateful for the donations, and we have to say thank you on behalf of [the] downtrodden and people who really cannot afford these medications. It is really vital that they get these medications or else it don’t make a difference. So, especially the patients who constantly have to take the medication like people with blood pressure and diabetes, you can’t just take it and stop, so we are very grateful for it.

“We are an organisation that helps out in different capacities for needy people. For some people who can’t afford it our doctors give free treatment, while there is a minimal cost for others who can afford it — like $1000 for adults’ registration fee and $800 for children, and our senior citizens get a $200 discount so they are $800 also.”

The medical centre was started 42 years ago in the Blessed Sacrament Cathedral Catholic Church hall and, following the establishment of the Good Shepherd Foundation, it was relocated to much bigger surroundings in the nearby Albion community. It has recently relocated to a more spacious two-storey building along Orange Street in the tourism resort city.