— PHOTO: RAMESH SHARMA

POLICY THERAPY: Ram Vilas Paswan (left), Union Minister for Chemicals & Fertilizers, with Anil K. Agarwal, President, Assocham, at a conference in New Delhi on Tuesday.

NEW DELHI: Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Tuesday defended the new draft pharmaceuticals policy, saying it would protect the interest of consumers by providing drugs at reasonable prices.

He also warned the industry that the Government would not hesitate to take stringent action in case it back tracked from commitments to reduce prices of essential drugs.

Responding to criticism by the drug industry at a conference organised by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) here, he urged companies to have "more heart'' for the poor.

On their part, industry representatives like Pfizer India Managing Director Kewal Handa felt that the new draft policy was leading to "de facto nationalisation'' of the private sector by proposing government controls and was not in tune with the growth comparatives of the industry.

Mr. Handa, who is the Chairman of the Assocham Pharma Council, said the draft policy sought to impose price controls and the authority to approve brand names, while ignoring the industry and consumers.

Swati Piramal, director, Strategic Alliances, Nicholas Piramal, also pointed out that the world was now moving towards issues such as providing health insurance rather than price control systems for drugs.

She urged the Government to take a holistic approach on healthcare so as to enable common man to afford the prices. Besides, she noted that medicines accounted for only 15 per cent of the total healthcare budget.

The Minister, however, expressed regret that the drug industry had not fulfilled its commitment to shrink trade margins and reduce prices of essential drugs.

He said the deadline for cutting prices of 354 essential drugs was October 2 but till now only 11 out of the 6,000 pharmaceuticals players had so far honoured their commitments.

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