The Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP), which recently drafted a new policy to control the pricing of drugs, has initiated steps to frame an overarching Pharma Control Policy as part of the system of providing affordable healthcare to the public.

The DoP said it was taking up the matter with other concerned departments like Health and take the initiative to frame a comprehensive policy to complement the Pharmaceutical Pricing Policy drafted and released by the department recently.

“Control over drug prices can be only one element of an overall strategy for provision of affordable healthcare. The existence of a vibrant, competitive, innovative drug industry would be an equally important part of such a strategy. In addition to this, such a strategy would have to incorporate programmes of affordable healthcare to a majority of the population, either through direct Government healthcare programmes or insurance linked programmes, and an overarching Pharma Control Policy, as part of the system of provision of affordable healthcare to the public at large, would also have to address several related issues,” sources said.

The Department sources said it needs to consult other concerned ministries and departments and has started the process to frame a comprehensive policy which will have many components other than the pricing. Provision of direct healthcare by expanding healthcare cover through State healthcare system, in combination with an insurance cover would be one of the points.

Improvement of access to drugs for specialized treatment (anti-cancer, anti-HIV etc) through special assistance scheme for subsiding the prices of such drugs, especially for BPL and APL families and streamlining of the system of procurement of drugs by the Government for ensuring procurement of quality drugs at reasonable prices will be among the other things.

The procurement system should be binding on Centre and State governments and PSUs, as a strong and transparent drug purchase policy would help in determining the reasonable ceiling of prices. Promotion of non-branded generic drugs, both through the Jan Aushadhi programme as well as through education of the public as well as doctors, and making it obligatory for doctors to also prescribe non-branded generics along with branded generics should be another element of the comprehensive policy.

Implementation of special schemes for providing accessibility of drugs to low income families, especially BPL families, setting up of drug banks, measures for strengthening of the pharmaceutical industry in strengthening and rationalizing the drug regulatory system, promotion of research and development in the pharmaceutical sector, directly through research institutions and universities, as well as through provision of seed capital, venture capital funding and subsidies to innovative drug companies will also be covered.