Cheaper medicines: Efforts to reduce medical bill welcome

AFFORDABILITY of essential medicines is a must for India to achieve the goal of universal health coverage. In a welcome step, the government has fixed the retail prices of a wide range of essential drugs. The formulations which will now be cheaper cover therapeutic categories such as anti-inflammatory, cardiovascular, antibiotic, anti-diabetic and psychiatric medicines. India’s drug price regulator, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority, has warned that non-compliance with the new rates would be punishable under the Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 2013, and the Essential Commodities Act, 1955. The excess amount charged would be recovered with interest from the erring manufacturer. Hopefully, this order will deter pharmaceutical companies from raising the MRP (maximum retail price) of various drugs beyond the stipulated limit.