Patients save around Rs. 15,000 crores under Government’s initiative of ensuring ‘Affordable, Quality Medicines for All’: Shri Mansukh Mandaviya

Minister of State for Chemicals & Fertilizers, Road Transport & Highways, Shipping, Shri Mansukh L. Mandaviya informed in a statement here today that patients across the country have saved around Rs. 15,000 crores under Government’s initiative of ensuring ‘Affordable, Quality Medicines for All’, as per estimates of the National Pharmaceutical Pricing authority (NPPA).

Following the vision of Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, to ensure health security for all citizens of India, the Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers has taken the step of fixation of ceiling prices and MRPs of essential and lifesaving drugs, as the case may be, by implementing the Drug Prices Control Order (DPCO), 2013. This step has resulted in patients saving over Rs. 5,000 crores since then, which is a big step in the direction of ensuring that no citizen suffers due to lack of affordable and good quality medicines in the country, the Minister said.

Further, Shri Mandaviya informed that these savings are in addition to approximately 10 lakh heart patients saving around Rs. 8,000 crores since fixation of ceiling prices of coronary stents (in February 2017, including re-fixation in February 2018)  and around 1.5 lakh knee patients saving about Rs. 2,000 crores since price fixation of knee implants (in August 2017).

Fixing of ceiling prices of Coronary Stents benefit approximately 10 lakh patients and that of Knee Implants benefit around 1.5 lakh patients since the step was taken.