Ministry, Niti Aayog helping pvt pharma firms: RSS outfit

DEMAND FOR DRUG PRICE REGULATOR

THE RSS-LINKED Swadeshi Jagran Manch has blamed the Health Ministry and Niti Aayog of “colluding” with pharmaceutical companies to “sabotage the drug price control regime”.

In a letter dated May 1, the Manch’s co-convenor, Ashwani Mahajan, urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure that the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) of India is not dismantled. “Your departments are acting against what you have promised (to) the people of India,” he wrote.

Mahajan wrote that “prices of most essential commodities are too high for the majority of people” because pharmaceutical companies are “making profits in the range of 500%-4000%”.

“The NPPA is an autonomous government organisation. Its task is to regulate prices of drugs and other medical equipment,” Mahajan told The Indian Express on Tuesday. “It had a role in bringing down the price of stent.”

But, he alleged, “Those in the government influenced by MNCS are trying to dismantle NPPA .... The Niti Aayog has recommended dismantling of NPPA, and (also suggested) that there is no need for price regulation. Once it is dismantled, companies will be given a free hand.”

In his letter, Mahajan alleged that the companies “could influence the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DOP), which changed the ceiling price formula”. Due to this, he claimed, private companies made “super profits”.

He wrote: “So powerful has the hold of the pharmaceutical companies (been) that secretaries and joint secretaries of three ministries - Health and Family Welfare, Commerce and Industry through DIPP (Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion), and Chemicals and Fertilisers through DOP - are now holding meetings with the Niti Aayog to completely dismantle the system of price control.”

Mahajanallegedthatnitiaayog has a “history of aligning with vested interests” to “dismantle the regime of price control” and voiced his protest. Urging Modi to “intervene”, he said the government must ensure “affordable access to medicines for all”.