254
Dec. 1932) suggests 20 grammes of quinine per case per year as a satis
-
factory basis of calculation. India's requirements would then be about
seven times more than the estimate of the Public Health Commissioner
or over four million pounds every year. Another report of the Health
Organisation (C. H./Malaria/158, April, 1931) mentions that the world's
consumption of quinine is approximately 600 tons per annum or 1,344,000
lbs., which is less than a third of the second estimate of India's require
-
ments. The actual consumption in India, according to the Public Health
Commissioner, "has been remarkably steady at about 200,000 lbs. per
annum, of which approximately 110,000 lbs. are imported and 90,000 lbs.
are produced in India". Present consumption is therefore only a third of
lower estimate of India's requirements and one-twentieth of the larger
estimate.
3. India is largely dependant on foreign imports even for her present
rate of consumption. Java produces quinine for the rest of the world
and her potential supply is said to be about 1,400 tons or 3,136,000 lbs.
"For many years past Java has produced approximately 97 per cent. of
the total world supplies, India being responsible for about 2 . 5 per cent.
and other countries for the minute proportion of 0 . 5 per cent. As
the Indian production serves only a fraction of the needs of this country,
any plan for mass treatment with quinine must take into consideration
the question of extending cinchona cultivation and of producing quinine
at a competitive price with the imported product. In India cinchona
plantations are confined to the provinces of Madras and Bengal. The
Administrative Report of the Madras Government Cinchona Department
for 1935-36 stated, 'there is not the slightest doubt that quinine will never
be produced in South India as cheap as in Java'. It suggested that
expansion of cultivation should be attempted mainly on the ground of
economic nationalism. On the other hand the Report of the Government
Cinchona Plantations and Factory in Bengal for the same year showed
that, while the prevailing market price was Rs. 22 per lb. of quinine,
at the government rate of Rs. 18 per lb. the quinine produced in the
province gave a profit of over Rs. 55,000. The report went on to say
that areas existed fairly suitable to the cinchona plant and that experience
had shown that it could be cultivated at costs "which would allow of a
cheapening of quinine for the masses". Bengal may therefore be able to
help to some extent. An investigation has recently been carried out by
an officer experienced in cinchona cultivation to determine what areas in
India would be suitable for the cultivation of the plant and what the
cost of such cultivation would be.
4. Another equally important aspect of the problem is to devise suit
-
able machinery for distributing quinine to the masses. In any system
of distribution there is need for close and constant supervision. Otherwise
an appreciable proportion of the quantity issued for distribution may not
reach the rural population but may find its way into the hands of unscru
-
pulous dealers ready and willing to buy quinine at considerably lower rates
than the prevailing market price. The possibility of producing quinine
in
India in such large quantities and at such low costs as to shout foreign