The Standing Committee on Chemicals and Fertilisers recommended to bring all the medicines including the life saving ones to be sold in the country under price control.

The Committee tabled its report in Parliament on Monday stating that all the drugs including the life saving ones are essential and should be available at an affordable price in the market.

Currently, based on National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM), the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has fixed the prices of 509 formulation packs.

“The committee are of the view that all medicines are essential and is taken only when it is needed by the patient.”

Further the panel said, “All these medicines, including life-saving drugs, should be available in the market at affordable cost. To keep this in view, the committee recommends that the scope of price control needs to be enlarged to make all the drugs available, especially life-saving drugs, in all parts of the country. The government should also expedite the process of notifying the ceiling prices of the remaining medicines in NLEM.”