The Union minister of health and family welfare J P Nadda has ruled out the possibility of any increase in drug prices due to hike in import taxes and assured that medicines would be made available at cheaper rates.

“It is falsely reported that there will be hike in drug prices in India due to hike in import taxes. On the contrary, medicines are likely to become cheaper,” he said. “Apart from generic drugs, medicines for cancer and cardiovascular surgical implants will also be available at 60 to 90 per cent subsidized rates.”

The minister made this statement while laying the foundation stone of the Rs.150-crore super specialty block for the Government Tirumala Devaswom (TD) Medical College at Alappuzha in Kerala. HLL Infra Tech Services Ltd, a subsidiary of HLL Lifecare Ltd (HLL), will construct the14,100 sq m block.

Nadda also said his ministry is willing to provide assistance in setting up Amruth Centres in Kerala. “But the state government should give us land for the scheme implementation,” he added.

The new super specialty block will have 200 in-patient beds and 50 ICU beds. It will be equipped with air-conditioned operation theatres for cardiology, cardiothoracic surgery, neurology, neurosurgery, urology, nephrology, gastroenterology, plastic surgery and endocrinology.

A project under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY), the four-storeyed building with four lifts will have state of the art medical facilities, like X-Ray, CT scan, MRI, ultrasound scan, laboratories and CSSD.

The Kerala government will contribute Rs.30 crore out of Rs.150 crore for the construction of the facility, which is expected to be completed in 18 months.

The super specialty block of Thiruvananthapuram Medical College hospital, the first hospital upgradation project, was built by HLL's infrastructure development division under PMSSY in record time.

The function was presided over by Kerala health minister V S Sivakumar. Among those present at the function were K C Venugopal, MP; G Sudhakaran, MLA; Dr M Ayyappan, CMD, HLL; Sunil Sharma, PMSSY joint secretary; A Ramla Biwi, medical education director; and Dr N Sreedevi, Alappuzha medical college principal.