Ananth for pharma ministry, plans 10 new clusters soon

New Delhi, March 20: Union chemicals and fertilisers Minister Ananth Kumar on Friday said that there should be a dedicated ministry for the pharmaceuticals sector to end policy fragmentation due to various departments come under different ministries.

“Unified policy mechanism is a big imperative. We are in a fragmented situation, the price regulation is with us, where as drug regulation is with health ministry and research with ministry of science and technology and import export with ministry of commerce and DIPP,” he said at a CII event here.

Therefore, Mr Kumar said he and his junior minister Hansraj Gangaram Ahir have made a suggestion to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that pharma sector needs to have a separate ministry.

Mr Kumar also revealed the government’s plans to set up ten pharma clusters across the country in the next one year at an outlay of `120 crore.

“Already we are thinking of pharma clusters in different parts of the country with common facilities. We have already finalised our strategy for that,” the minister said.

Commenting on the benefits of the scheme, the Union minister said: “Common facility will make them competitive in pharma clusters and they can reduce 25-30 per cent of their manufacturing cost thus making them globally competitive.” — PTI