Indian Doctors for Peace and Development expresses serious concern at 74�I

Ludhiana, June 21, 2016: The Indian Doctors for Peace and Development (IDPD) has expressed serious concern at the 74% FDI through automatic route and 100% FDI under approval route in Pharma sector. Poor people of our country need cheap bulk drugs with a strict price control.
In a statement released here today Dr l S Chawla – Patron, Dr S S Soodan – President, Dr Shakeel Ur Rahman- General Secretary and Dr Arun Mitra – Sr. Vice President IDPD said that a few years back this was being done by the public sector owned companies (PSUs). The Indian Pharmaceutical companies produced cheap drugs which were availed for use in developing countries around the world. But the government either shut down the PSUs or reduce their importance. After signing the WTO agreement and the patent laws therein the poor countries became devoid of the benefits of the cheap drugs by the Indian companies. The foreign Multi National Corporations (MNCs) will come only for profit with no consideration for the health care needs of our people. It is well known that the pharma lobby is very powerful and it will be difficult to check them. It is pertinent to mention here that after our Prime Minister met the pharma cartels during his visit to the US in 2014 the prices of several medicines increased manifold after his return because the Government of India withdrew the guidelines empowering itself to cap the prices of 108 non-essential drugs. Opening up FDI in the pharma sector is contrary to and incompatible with the concept of “Achhe Din”. We appeal to the government to reconsider the decision.