DW BUREAU / Chandigarh

With an aim to ensure affordable medicines for millions of people in the country, Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Balbir Singh on Monday raised the issue regarding the disparity of prices of same salts of medicines available in the market with different brand names.

The Health Minister was addressing the inaugural session of three-days 4th Regional Training Programme on "Capacity Building of Drug Regulators of Northern States" organised by Central Drugs Standards Control Organization (CDSCO), Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India in collaboration with Food and Drugs Administration (FDA), Government of Punjab at Hotel Parkview here. Joint Drugs Controller (India) Dr S Eswara Reddy, Secretary Health-cum-Commissioner Food and Drugs Administration Punjab Dr Abhinav Trikha and Joint Commissioner (Drugs) FDA Punjab Sanjiv Kumar were also present.

While stressing on the need to bring parity in the prices of all the medicines, Dr Balbir Singh said that these issues need attention of the Central Government. "I've already flagged this issue with the Union Health Minister," he added.

The Health Minister also raised the concern regarding quality of drugs available in the market and urged the Joint Drugs Controller?(India) to make some concrete policy to tackle the issue.

He said that the Indian pharmaceutical industry has contributed significantly to global healthcare by ensuring high quality, affordable and accessible medicines around the world. India is known as the pharmacy of world for quality generic affordable medical products, he added.

"India is the third largest producer of generic drugs in terms of volume and 10th in terms of value. Almost every 5th pill used by the patients in the world is manufactured in India," said Dr Balbir Singh.

Commissioner FDA Punjab Dr Abhinav Trikha stressed on the need to develop a dedicated platform to address the various common issues of States with Government of India including online licensing, quality of drugs and regulatory enforcement for better implementation of the provisions of Drugs & Cosmetics Act/Rules. He also emphasised on the importance of such training programmes for skill and personality development of the enforcement officers and urged CDSCO to arrange such events on regular basis. Meanwhile, this three days Residential Training Programme is being organized for 75 Drugs Control Officers from Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttrakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh for capacity building of Drugs Regulators.
(editor@dailyworld.in)