With the uncertainty over the central government cleared through the recent trust vote in Parliament and new department in place to push the interests of the sector in a more focused way, the department of pharmaceuticals of the union chemicals ministry has written a letter to the union agriculture minister and head of the Group of Ministers (GoM) Sharad Pawar for an early meeting of the GoM on the proposed National Pharmaceutical Policy.
"We have written to fix an early date of the meeting and waiting for the reply from the office of Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar who is heading the GoM," sources in the pharma department said.
The policy has been hanging in balance for a couple of months with the Congress-led Government at the Centre facing hard times on its survival. Now with the confidence won on the floor of the House, the department and Chemicals Minister Ram Vilas Paswan are keen to see that the policy is cleared by the elite GoM at the earliest.
Meanwhile, the law ministry which was asked by the GoM to examine Supreme Court order on price control aspect had reportedly submitted its comments. It is learnt that the ministry has asked the GoM to approach the SC to ascertain if in fact the 354 drugs identified by the chemicals ministry are essential and be brought under the control. If the GoM decides to approach the Apex Court for an interpretation, the policy is likely to be held up again and the final decision on the contentious issue of price control would be dependent on the observation of the court.
Following the last GoM meeting on April 30, which saw last minute differences between the health and the chemicals ministries, a few rounds of secretary level meetings were also held to sort out the issues. A national pharmaceutical policy has been overdue in fact from 2002 when the policy prepared by the then Central government was challenged in the Karnataka High Court and in 2003, the Supreme Court kept it at abeyance. A 7-member GoM was constituted in January 2007 to study the draft National Pharmaceutical Policy 2006 prepared by the chemicals ministry. Though the GoM held four meetings so far, it could not finalise the policy so far.