Consumers are overcharged for more than 100 drugs, finds a report
A document released by the National
Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) shows that consumers are being
overcharged for more than 100 drugs sold on the market.
The government body released the data on its
website last month. It shows that several pharmaceutical firms have been
overcharging customers for commonly used drugs, such as anti-diabetic and
cholesterol lowering tablets.
The NPPA, which puts out this quarterly data
on its website, has issued notices to the pharmaceutical companies. The report
shows that they overcharged consumers to the tune of Rs36.8 crore for a single
drug.
“Pharmaceuticals overcharge in many ways.
Companies that manufacture non-scheduled drugs cannot increase the prices more
than 10% of the MRP. However, they do so,” said Dr Bhupendra Singh, chairman,
NPPA.
“It all depends on the market volume of the
drugs. The company may have overpriced a drug by between 50 paisa and Rs10, but
when one looks at the cumulative figures, the amount runs into lakhs and
crores,” he added.
The ceiling price of the drugs has been fixed
by the government under the Drug Price Control Order (DPCO) 13, which makes
them affordable to most.
Doctors who have been working to improve the
affordability of healthcare said this was yet another example of profiteering
by big pharmaceutical companies.
“It is not surprising to see pharma companies
overcharging commonly sold medicines,” said a doctor from a health activist
group.
In February, the NPPA capped the price of
stents in India slashing the cost up to 85%. The price of drug eluting stents
was fixed at Rs 29,600, while that of bare metal stents was capped at Rs7,260.
Comments
Post a Comment