Fixation of Ceiling over the prices of nearly 871 crucial and life saving drugs by the Government though much delayed but a right step. It is better late than never. It is unfortunate that despite passing of law on the subject in 2013, the effective step is taken to regulate this bridled area of health care and human agony.
The Government has said that The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has fixed the ceiling prices of 871 scheduled formulations of medicines under National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM), 2015.
The fixation of Ceiling price includes ceiling price of Cardiac Stents under Para 19 of the Drug Price Control Orders (DPCO), 2013 resulting in price reduction for Coronary Stents worked out up to 85 per cent for Bare Metal Stents and 74% for Drug Eluting Stents.
This information was given by Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers D V Sadananda Gowda in a written reply in Rajya Sabha Wednesday. Gowda informed that besides Cardiac Stents, Knee Implants, 106 anti-diabetic and cardiovascular medicines and 42 non-scheduled anti-cancer medicines have also been brought under price rationalisation in public interest by exercising extra-ordinary powers under the DPCO, 2013.
He said, the fixation of the ceiling prices by the NPPA is an on-going process. As and when the formulations are included in the National List of Essential Medicines their prices are fixed by the NPPA. It is essential to make quality healthcare accessible to people across the country. Their income should not be a barrier to get high quality healthcare. Control of prices of essential medicines is a crucial step in this direction.
While the deck is cleared officially, it is now the law and enforcing agencies to implement strictly the capping of prices of such vital drugs and medical devices to ensure hassle-free availability of such drugs to patients without any artificial scarcity across the country.
