In a positive move to sort out the persisting wrangle over the proposed Pharmaceutical Policy, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh chose Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Minister Sharad Pawar to head a seven-member Group of Ministers (GoM), after pharma industry and the different ministries took divergent views on the vexed price control issue.
The GoM, constituted by the Prime Minister on Friday, will have Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath, Health Minister Anbumani Ramdoss, Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal, Law Minister H R Bhardwaj and Deputy chairman of the planning commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia as members, according to the note from the Cabinet Secretariat.
In the backdrop of different views aired by different Union Ministries and the pharma industry, Pawar's appointment as head of the GoM can be termed a wise decision, as that will go a long way in framing a final pharma policy in an amicable way. Pawar's appointment will also be helpful in finding an amicable solution to the vexed issue of bringing more drugs under price control, especially in the wake of the tug of war going on between the pharma industry and the Union Chemicals Ministry.
While the pharma industry is all against bringing more drugs under the price control as that will adversely affect the financial strength of the pharma industry as a whole, the Chemicals Ministry is hell bent on bringing more drugs under price control to make them available to the common man at affordable prices. The Chemical Ministry's stand is based on the Congress-led UPA government's commitment on making essential medicines affordable as per its Common Minimum Programme (CMP).
It may be noted that the Chemicals Ministry firmly wanted price control to the maximum extent while the Commerce Ministry, the Planning Commission, the Finance Ministry and to a certain extent the Health Ministry, along with the industry, opposed it with a view to put the Indian pharma industry on a level-playing field with the global players in the liberalised economic regime. It is significant that the consumer affairs minister, who is yet to join the issue, was chosen to head the GoM and it also amply indicated the commitment of the Government towards the end users of drugs.
The GoM will now hold at least three rounds of meetings to study the proposals and suggest changes before announcing the final policy. Though it may take a few months to announce the policy, the Government may spell its decisions in the budget on excise duty and abatement rate, which are in fact included in the policy draft too.
The Union Cabinet on January 11 had referred the policy to the GoM and entrusted the Prime Minister to set up the panel, after the sharp divide between the pharma industry and the chemicals ministry on the cost-based price control clearly echoed even in the cabinet meeting. The domestic industry has strongly opposed the increase in the ambit of price control from current 74 bulk drugs to another 260 formulations, saying it would bring 60 per cent drugs under direct control, while the chemicals department said it would cover another 12 per cent drugs over the current 20 per cent.
Chemicals Ministry sources said the GoM was constituted with a mandate to look into the matter clearly as the draft was prepared in line with the CMP of the Government and the supreme court directive on National List of Essential Medicines under price control.