The Centre has ruled out the possibility of shifting the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) to the administrative control of the Union Health Ministry, which now controls quality of drugs through the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO).

“The government is not planning to shift the NPPA to the Union Health Ministry,” Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad stated categorically in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha recently, thus putting an end to the speculations in this regard.

There has been persistent demand for bringing different agencies and departments controlling the drug sector under the administrative control of one ministry. Now, the drug quality is maintained by the CDSCO under the Health Ministry while the drug availability and pricing were controlled by the NPPA under the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) which also has the control of the drug manufacturing sector. However, DoP is under the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers.

The debate over the control has been going on for a long time now. The  Parliamentary Standing Committee on Chemicals and Fertilisers time and again recommended that the CDSCO be moved under the administrative control of the DoP. However, the panel attached to the Commerce Ministry strongly advocated that the DoP itself be brought under the jurisdiction of the Health Ministry. The Planning Commission had also suggested moving the DoP to the Health Ministry.

The DoP had taken up in 2009 with the Cabinet Secretariat regarding transferring the subject matter pertaining to quality control of medicines along with relevant infrastructure i.e. CDSCO to the DoP, for better coordination of the sector.

“The Committee, on occasions, found the two Departments at different wavelengths on issues of public health. In this backdrop, the Committee is of the considered opinion that since medicines/drugs are an integral aspect of public health , the DoP may be subsumed within Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for effective policy formulation and monitoring of pharma sector in larger public interest,” according to the recommendations by the Standing Committee on Commerce and Industry.