Parliamentary Panel Slams NPPA for 50% Price Hike, Demands Answers
New Delhi: The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Chemicals and Fertilisers has slammed the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) for allowing a 50% price hike in 11 drug formulations and has sought a detailed note on the matter.
In its fifth report, titled ‘Demand for Grants’, the Committee expressed serious concerns regarding the Authority’s price regulation mechanisms. Highlighting the steep increase in the prices of essential medicines, the Committee criticized the NPPA for permitting price hikes that disproportionately impact economically weaker sections of society.
The Committee found that the NPPA had notified ceiling prices for 920 essential medicines, including oxygen, general anesthetics, and opioids.
In its report, the Panel further noted that while the selling prices of essential medicines are adjusted based on changes in the Wholesale Price Index (WPI), the NPPA also monitors the pricing of non-essential medicines to ensure manufacturers do not hike the Maximum Retail Price (MRP) by more than 10% in a year.
However, the Committee observed that the NPPA had issued an order dated 15th October 2024, increasing the prices of 11 drug formulations by 50%. Admittedly, this was done in response to several applications requesting a price hike to accommodate rising production costs over the years.
Also Read: NPPA Approves 50 percent Price Increase of 8 essential drugs, details
Dismayed, the Committee observed;
“With serious concern that in the face of apparent increasing prices of medicines affecting the whole nation, particularly hard hitting the poorest of the poor, the NPPA, which has the ambit of monitoring and enforcement of pricing of medicines, has allowed this situation to prevail.”
“The Committee, therefore, desires a detailed note be furnished on this price hike.”
