However, just 2 days later, on 22 September, 2014, the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemical and Fertilizers, Government of India issued a notification in which the internal guidelines given by NPPA on regarding the inclusion of 108 drugs under price control policy were withdrawn with immediate effect. On September 20, 2014, the NPPA announced to cap the prices of 36 more drugs to increase their affordability to the public. The efforts of NPPA were widely acknowledged nationwide by the public as NPAA was viewed as an organization making a paradigm shift its industry-friendly policy to health policy. This patient friendly policy significantly reduced the prices of some important life-saving drugs for disease conditions such as cancer, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, etc. As a result, the prices of the 348 essential medicines originally included in 1979 were reduced dramatically, and they were made available to the public at low cost.Īlmost a year later on May 29, 2014, another amendment was made in DPCO, which authorized the NPPA to control prices of other 108 life-saving drugs which were not originally included in the NLEM. Recently, on May 15, 2013, the Ministry of Chemical and Fertilizers (Department of Pharmaceuticals) authorized NPPA to regulate the availability and pricing of all the drugs mentioned in National Essential List of India (National List of Essential Medicines, 2011). This drug list has been revised and cut down considerably over the years and finally in 1995, the Drug Price Control Order (DPCO) included only 76 drugs that were subjected to price control. In 1979, 347 drugs were included in the price control list and later the drug list was shortened to 166 in 1987 and further to 142. In 1997, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) was established under the ministry of chemicals and fertilizers, Government of India with the aim of controlling the prices of medicines and ensure its availability. However, the promulgation of law and policy from time to time has severely affected the progress toward these goals. Since independence, the objectives of the pharmaceutical industry in India have remained the same: To promote the domestic industry and manufacture good quality drugs. The margin in medication sales across the same generic class of medications is extremely high, often ranging from 1000% to 4000%. Although, it is a common notion that drug prices in India are relatively low, studies have reported that medications in India are overpriced and unaffordable. The main focus of pharmaceutical health policies in India is to focus on the progression of the industrial sector while the issues of availability, pricing, and affordability of drugs remain ignored. Pharmaceutical policy in India is perceived to be favouring the industry rather than the public. About 60-90% of this money is spent on medications and for procuring health services. A significant proportion of the Indian population pays for their health care expenditures by shelling money out of their own pockets. In spite of that, more than half of its population has no access to essential medications in government hospitals due to heavy dependence of a majority of patients on private sector. Pharmaceutical market in India consists of more than 20,000 manufacturers and is termed as the 3 rd largest market in the world, by volume. India exports medicines to more than 200 countries worldwide.
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