No discussion on alleged bribes given by pharma firms to doctors at PM Modi's meet, says IPA

The Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) on Wednesday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had convened a meeting with the healthcare industry on January 1, but there was "no discussion at all on the alleged bribes being given by pharma companies to doctors."

"There was no discussion at all on the alleged bribes being given by pharma companies to doctors as being reported in the media. The meeting was a constructive one where the discussion was limited to initiatives to boost the industry. News reports to the contrary arebaseless," said the IPA in a statement.

The meeting was attended by Satish Reddy (Dr Reddy's), Ajay Piramal (Piramal Group), Pankaj Patel (Cadila Healthcare), Dilip Shanghvi (Sun Pharma), Habil Khorakiwala (Wockhardt), Dr Rajiv Modi (Cadila Pharma), Sudhir Mehta (Torrent), Pavan Choudhary (MedTech) and Shobana Kamineni (Apollo Hospitals), added the IPA.

It added that the meeting was called to "discuss future roadmap for growth of the healthcare industry."

Research and Development, building innovation ecosystem, improve access to high quality medicine and strengthen global competitiveness of the industry were among the focus of discussion.

"India is rightly described as the pharmacy of the world with 20 per cent volume share of the global market. The purpose was to take the industry to next level and leverage opportunities going forward in pharma sector besides discussing growth opportunities in Medtech and hospital sector," the IPA further said.