As the new prices of essential medicines fixed in accordance with the national pharmaceutical pricing policy and the Drugs Price Control Order 2013 is all set take effect from July 29, apprehension is mounting about the possible shortage of the drugs under control in the market.

In the first batch, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) had revised the prices of 151 formulations on June 14 with a window period of 45 days for implementation by the pharmaceutical companies. Some of the drugs whose prices have been fixed are insulin, ibuprofen, metronidazole combinations, dexamethazone combinations, rifampicin combinations, carbamazepine etc.

However, many parts of the country are going to face shortage of these drugs, if the current situation is any indication. A random check with some retail outlets in the national capital region showed that many chemists had already returned the existing stocks of these drugs back to the wholesalers and to the companies for relabelling. But the drugs with new labels are yet to reach the retailers, indicating a possible shortage of many formulations.

“Some companies had asked us to sell the existing stocks with a reduced price as per the new prices. But that is not practical as we purchased them at higher prices and no clarification was made on the trade margin and other logistics,” a chemist at Ghaziabad said.

Opting less complicated route, the retailers have returned the stocks almost fully. Several chemists admitted that the new stocks with new labels were yet to reach them. “We hope, these will be available in time,” on shop-owner claimed.

The chemists are also demanding that the government should give more time to exhaust the existing stocks before implementing the new prices.

There is also allegation that the companies and the chemists together were trying to create the shortage so that higher priced alternatives could be pushed under the disguise of practical difficulties.

The Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) had already specified that he was not against the companies relabelling the existing drugs already produced, considering the practical difficulties involved.

The State Drug Controllers have been reportedly asked to ensure the availability of drugs with new prices. The task of making sure that these drugs are not sold at higher prices is with the district level drug inspectors.

According to the new pricing policy, the ceiling of prices will be done based on the simple average of the prices of all brands of that drug that have a market share of at least one per cent. The national list of essential medicines has 348 bulk drugs, which are sold as 650 formulations.