NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 28: Be it Dettol or a drug for diphtheria, prices of essential medicines and infectants have increased considerably in the last few months. Whether it is one of the 74 drugs under the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority's (NPPA) drug price control order (DPCO) or outside it, none have been spared. And as the government and manufacturers blame each other for the hike, the consumers are paying through their noses for drugs they cannot avoid buying.A glance through the October-December edition of Drug Today, a ready reckoner of current medical formulations, is enough. Most interesting is the way in which prices of anti-convulsants have gone up from Rs 14.56 to Rs 17.12.
According to a number chemists, the prices of anti-convulsants were first brought brought down last year on advice from WHO and other medical bodies as it was declared an essential drug. It was later de-controlled and as a result, it has crossed the original price level and is selling for Rs 18 in the open market.
Says Harish Chawla, director CIPLA and an expert on drug policy matters: ``It is difficult to analyse the spurt in price. Prices of Vit-A, the basic drug for blindness, have almost doubled. It happens because companies have monopolies and there is no one to monitor the prices.''
Prices of the main anti-TB drug Rifampicin has gone up from Rs 19.48 to Rs 22.74. This is the price of just the 10 tablet strip.
Nilol, prescribed for hypertension patients, has gone up by Rs 5. Prices of drugs like anti-diarhoeals and expectorants have gone by Rs 6-8. When it comes to expensive contraceptives like Famix, the prices have gone up by Rs 30. The cheaper ones also have not been spared.
The pharmaceutical industry insiders complained that it is due to the faulty policies of the NPPA that drug prices go up arbitrarily: ``It promotes monopolies and doles favour to selected small-scale pharmacies owned those near and dear to the people-in-power,'' they say.
The other reason, Chawla said, is the lack of leader prices or a ceiling on essential drugs which the NPPA promised to promulgate.
The NPPA officials, who first refused comment, denied that there is any major hike in prices.``We can't run around stick-in-hand. They were asking for an open market. Now the industry wants to complain and pass the buck on to us,'' said one of the NPPA directors.The companies are unanimous that the ceiling price on essential drugs will bring down prices and give them a level playing ground. As of now, the movement of prices is upward.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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