Price control of life saving drugs in offing: Paswan

Varanasi, Mar 22 (UNI) Union Minister for Chemical and Fertilisers Ram Vilas Paswan today said the government was working to bring the life saving drugs under price control mechanism to check the rise in the prices of these essential medicines.

''In 2006 the pharma companies voluntarily agreed to lower the prices of 886 drugs, but the prices of only 300 drugs were reduced.

As the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) was de-controlled the prices of these drugs it cannot be reduced by the government alone,'' Mr Paswan told newspersons here.

''Even the doctors were not helping the public cause by prescribing medicines whose prices were not reduced,'' he claimed.

Keeping in mind the situation, a proposal has been put before the Union Cabinet to put life saving drugs under price control mechanism. The cabinet subsequently has forwarded the proposal to a Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar.

Once the GoM gives its nod to the proposal the decks will be cleared to put the life saving drugs under price control, Mr Paswan added.

''We can hope to put the life saving drugs under price control shortly,'' Mr Paswan hoped.

UNI