Expressing 'deep anguish over the inordinate delay' in finalising the national pharmaceutical policy, the Parliamentary standing committee attached to chemicals and fertilizers ministry, for the third time, has asked the government to speed up the process to make sure that the policy sees the light of the day.

“The Committee finds that presently life- saving drugs have not been defined or specified in the DPCO, 1995. Thus, there is no effective monitoring of either their availability or prices by the NPPA. This is a matter of serious concern which needs to be remedied forthwith. In this connection, the Committee note that the Supreme Court in its order dated March 10, 2003 had directed the Government to consider and formulate appropriate criteria for ensuring that essential and life saving drugs do not remain out of price control. In pursuance thereof, the Department had proposed the draft National Pharmaceuticals Policy, 2006 which inter-alia had taken care of the imperative need,” the latest report from the panel said.

“This Committee had time and again emphasized the need to finalize the draft. The Committee is, however, unhappy to observe that the same is yet to see the light of the day. According to the Department, the matter is still pending consideration by the Government. While expressing its deep anguish over the inordinate delay in the matter, the Committee recommends that the draft policy should be finalized forthwith,” the report said. In its two successive reports before also, the panel had made the similar observations.

“The draft National Pharmaceuticals Policy, 2006, was prepared by the Department after extensive discussions with various stakeholders, and in line with the declared objective of the Government in the National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP). The draft was in compliance with the Supreme Court order dated March 10, 2003, which directed the Government to consider and formulate appropriate criteria for ensuring essential and life saving drugs not to fall out of the price control. This policy was submitted before the Cabinet for its approval. The Cabinet considered the policy in its meeting held on January 11, 2007. It was decided that in the first instance, the draft be considered by a Group of Ministers (GOM). GOM was constituted under the Chairmanship of the then Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Sharad Pawar. GOM has held four meetings on April 10, 2007; September 12, 2007; January 30, 2008; and April 30, 2008 in this connection,” the department stated in the note to the panel as reply to the query to convey the status of the policy.

“Since no recommendations were made by the GoM to the Cabinet, the policy could not be finalized yet. On June12, 2009, the Department of Pharmaceuticals has recommended the continuation of the Group of Ministers constituted to consider the policy. The new GoM has been constituted by the Cabinet Secretariat vide its reference No.61/2/4/2006 – Cab dated September 1, 2009. The final decision on the issue of the policy will be possible after GoM takes a decision in this regard,” the department said.