New Delhi: After hike in fuel rates and costs of daily commodities, the essential medicines are set to become dearer from April.
The hike is expected as the government is set to give a nod to drug companies to increase prices of essential medicines including painkillers, anti-infectives, and antibiotics.
It is expected that the medicines will become costlier by 10 percent as the change in Wholesale Price Index (WPI) in 2021 was 10.8 percent.
Hike in prices of essential, non-essential medicines
For the first time, the price hike for essential medicines is likely to be more than the allowed hike for non-essential medicines. For non-essential medicines, a hike of 10 percent annual is allowed.
Earlier, the hike in prices of essential medicines used to be in the range of 1-2 percent. In 2019, the prices were hiked by around 2 percent whereas, in 2020, the hike was 0.5 percent.
Although it is not good news for the public, it will be a big relief for the pharmaceutical companies as they are struggling due to the rise in the cost of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) which is the raw material for the companies.
After the outbreak of pandemic, the prices of API surged enormously. An increase in freight rates, transportation costs, etc., also adds to the input cost.
As most of the pharma ingredients are imported from China, supply was disrupted during the pandemic which had led to a spike in input cost during the pandemic.
NPPA regulates cost of medicines in India
The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) which is a government regulatory agency controls the prices of medicines in India.
It comes under the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers.
The responsibility of the authority is to regulate the prices of medicines and ensure their availability and accessibility at affordable prices.
