Jayani Directs Drug Inspectors & Chemists To Ensure Availability Of Generic Medicines At Govt Fixed Rates
Author(s): City Air NewsChandigarh, May 11, 2015: Health Minister Punjab Surjit Kumar Jayani has directed the drug inspectors and the chemists in Punjab to ensure the availability of essential and generic drugs only at the rates fixed...
cityairnews
May 11, 2015 09:30
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Chandigarh, May 11, 2015: Health Minister Punjab Surjit Kumar Jayani has directed the drug inspectors and the chemists in Punjab to ensure the availability of essential and generic drugs only at the rates fixed by the government.
Issuing fresh guidelines to the drug inspectors, the Minister said that various steps have been taken by the Punjab government to improve health services and to check the ever soaring prices of the generic medicines was amongst the top priorities of the government. He reiterated the strong resolve of the government to ensure quality healthcare system.
Jayani directed the chemists to make the essential medicines available according to the guidelines of the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority which has recently issued notification fixing the uniform prices of the generic and essential medicines across the country. He also said that according to the latest guidelines the prices of the medicines would be reduced up to 50%. He has also asked the drug inspectors to conduct surprise checks on the medicine/drug retailers and wholesalers to ensure the accessibility of essential medicines as according to the laid down guidelines of the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority of India.
He said that regarding price control of drugs a nexus between drug manufacturers, drug inspectors, chemists, medical representatives and doctors was essential to be broken. He termed the fleecing of the patients by the chemists in the name of expensive medicines, a “daylight robbery of poor patients by some large scale and small scale manufacturers, especially by non-scheduled generic drug manufacturers.” he also said that unfortunately the manufacturers have made it a habit to display an inflated MRP on the labels of the generic drugs, blown up by several times more than their original costs.
Date:
Monday, May 11, 2015
