The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has directed the state drug departments in the country to identify NGOs to work as dedicated centres for the NPPA's online complaints and reddressal facility which was launched recently. The Maharashtra FDA has identified the Consumer Guidance Society of India for the purpose.

A senior official in the state FDA said that though there were several NGOs engaged in the field of health and consumer awareness, the state FDA selected the Consumer Guidance Society of India, which is the oldest NGO in the city in the field of health and consumer rights. The NGO will collect information from the public and directly interact with the NPPA.

The NGOs in every state will work as dedicated centres and will coordinate between the people and the NPPA. One of the major roles of the NGO will be to keep an eye on the drug companies which are overcharging.

Even though the NPPA periodically reviews and fixes the prices of drugs, including the prices of controlled drugs and other non-scheduled drugs, there were complaints about the drug companies flouting the norms in this regard and overcharging the consumers. With limited manpower, it is well nigh impossible for the national drug price regulator to control the drug prices.

In order to reign in the erring companies effectively and also to make the system more transparent, the NPPA recently launched the online complaints and reddressal facility with an assurance of taking action within 30 days of the complaints.

Individuals and organizations can file complaints in the specified format on overcharging, sale of drugs without NPPA approval and non-availability or shortage of medicines. It would also help disseminate information on schedule drug prices and their availability.