The National Pharmaceutical Advisory Forum, planned at the behest of Ram Vilas Paswan, Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers, is continuing to be a non-starter due to the lukewarm response from the states. As per the government plan, the advisory form was to have two NGO representatives each from every state. However, none of the states are known to have submitted the list of eligible NGOs to the Central Government.

The NGO representation is crucial to the formation of the forum as the whole exercise was intended at providing an opportunity for the public to intervene in issues related to drug pricing.

The total number of the proposed forum is 160 of which 58 have to come from the NGO representation. The industry had expressed its protest over the structure of the forum as their representation was limited to 5 while consumer organisations were allotted 58 seats.

The minister's plan was to have the forum to monitor the price structure and availability of medicines in the country in an advisory capacity. The forum was to have members from all stakeholders and was expected to hold regular meetings to advise the government on the drug pricing issues.

The minister wanted the forum to collect grass root level information about the availability and affordability of medicines so as to influence the pricing policy of the government.

While NGOs will represent the major chunk of the members, the forum would also have representatives from drug trade associations of all states, and have health ministers and health secretaries of all states as its members.

The Union Minister announced the constitution of the forum five months ago. Indian Drugs Manufacturers Association (IDMA), Indian Pharmaceutical Association (IPA), Bulk Drug Manufacturers Association (BDMA), All India Small Scale Drug Manufacturers Association, and several state level industry bodies are to be part of the forum.

Pharmaceutical Advisory Forum was one among the several such initiatives mooted by the minister during his current tenure. The expert committee that he had constituted to study the drug pricing situations in the country had recently brought out its interim recommendations.