The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : State presence in drug manufacturing sought

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Monday, Nov 05, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

State presence in drug manufacturing sought

Special Correspondent

‘Revival of PSUs will reduce medicine prices’

KURNOOL: A.G. Rajmohan, general secretary of Andhra Pradesh Medical and Sales Representatives Union, on Sunday said that revival of public sector units in drug manufacturing was the only solution to the high cost of medicines.

Addressing a seminar on the prices of drugs here, he said that everybody was gearing up to exploit the future drug market in India except the Government.

He said the drug market would go out of the control of Government and consumers if the Government does not have strong presence in the drug manufacturing. Consumers were already noticing the ill effects of the more leverage the private drug manufacturers have.

Price difference

Mr. Rajmohan said the drugs supplied to the Government institutions through tender process and the drugs sold in the open market had a price difference of 2,000 per cent, which indicated that the drug manufacturers had exploited the common man. The drugs manufactured by the same company at different places had different pricing, exploiting the situation.

He said drugs would become prohibitively expensive and the common man would not be able to buy medicines in future. He accused the drug manufacturers of spending huge amount on product promotion.

He said the Federation of Medical Representatives Union identified 354 drugs as essential to tackle all diseases in a tropical country and requested the Government to place them under the purview of Drug Price Control Order. The Government too bought the idea and agreed to control the prices of the drugs but the manufacturers moved the court.

Saying that medicines were not an item of comfort or luxury, he urged the Government to exempt all essential drugs from the excise and other taxes.

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