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Price
control soon on essential drugs
Speaking at a meeting with representatives of the National Movement for the Rights of Patients (NMRP) the Minister said he would soon gazette the list of essential and critical drugs. Thereafter the government would monitor and control the prices. Drug companies would need to get prior approval from the consumer affairs authority before increasing the prices of drugs. A spokesman for the NMRP said the movement would be sending an updated list of essential and critical drugs to the Minister to be gazetted for price control. The spokesman said an international survey of retail drug prices by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Health Action International (HAI) in 2001 showed that retail prices of good quality generics in Sri Lanka were the lowest among the 15 countries surveyed. One of the major reasons was the regulation of drug prices implemented by the Fair Trading Commission (FTC). Unfortunately for consumers, the UNF government abolished regulations of drug prices and the FTC. Experiences in countries like Pakistan and India showed that when drug prices were deregulated retail prices went up, the spokesman said. |
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