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P.T. Jyothi Datta

First meeting this week

Mumbai April 8 Several unresolved concerns of the draft Pharmaceutical Policy, including keeping medicine prices under control, would be on the agenda for the Group of Ministers (GoM) looking into the policy. The GoM will hold its first meeting this week.

Medicine prices are one of the key discordant notes that prevented the draft pharmaceutical policy from getting the requisite government approvals and becoming the law. The apex Chemical and Fertilisers Ministry's aim to keep medicine prices on a tight leash had met with strong opposition from the pharmaceutical industry, which sought price-monitoring rather than control.

The draft drug policy was sent to the GoM in January this year. The group is headed by the Union Agriculture and Food Minister, Mr Sharad Pawar. The group also includes the Union Chemicals and Fertiliser Minister, Mr Ram Vilas Paswan, the Commerce and Industry Minister, Mr Kamal Nath, and the Health Minister, and Dr Anbumani Ramdoss.

Drugs for deprived

A Chemicals and Fertiliser Ministry official said that the group would look into all aspects of the pharmaceutical policy, including issues relating to setting up a medicine bank or cancer fund to make drugs available to people below the poverty line (BPL). Plans for a health insurance that have been on the drawing-board for long, especially for people in the BPL category, would also be discussed by the group, the official said.

The first meeting, however, will look at setting the agenda on the contentious issues of the draft drug policy and look to resolving it over a period of time. The GoM was to get back with its recommendations on the draft drug policy in the Budget session of Parliament, scheduled to close later in May.

Streamlining

The official was non-committal on whether this time-line would be met.

The re-look at the policy would also evaluate streamlining of pricing and licensing issues, with a central drug authority being mooted on the lines of the Food and Drug Administration in the US. But whether it will take on the roles of being the pricing authority as well as the regulator on safety aspects remains to be seen.

Related Stories:
New drug policy in place, but relief to consumers sometime away
New drug policy to arm regulator with more teeth
Drug prices may come down more than 50 pc
Why drug price control is what the doctor ordered

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