Congress slams Modi over drug pricing issue

Opposition party termed the move by the BJP-led govt as 'anti-people and anti-national'

Congress today accused Narendra Modi government of succumbing to "pressure" from MNCs to strip the drug pricing authority of powers to cap prices of non- essential drugs and said patients of cancer, HIV and other ailments in India will now bear the cost of Prime Minister's "American jamboree".

The opposition party termed the move by the BJP-led government as "anti-people and anti-national" and demanded that it withdraw the decision as it will only profit corporate houses and pharmaceutical giants in India and the US.

The Congress said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is travelling to the United States, has extracted a "very heavy price" from the country's "poor and ailing" for "PR exercise".

It issued a statement saying, "Indian cancer/TB/AIDS and heart patients to bear the cost of Modi's American jamboree".

The Department of Pharmaceuticals under the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers had last week ordered the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) to withdraw a guideline under the Drug (Prices Control) Order of 2013 that gave the pricing authority powers to cap prices of non-essential drugs.

"Because of the UPA policy, the price of a cancer drug Tab Glevec came down from over Rs one lakh to just Rs 8,500. Now the prices will go back to the same old stage. There is tremendous pressure by MNCs to play havoc in the country," Congress leader and former Union Minister Srikant Jena told reporters here.

"We don't know who the Prime Minister wants to satisfy ahead of US visit. We oppose it and the government must now go ahead. It should actually withdraw the withdrawal order," he said.

Congress General Secretary Ajay Maken said that while this move will "get Modi good PR and earn the corporate houses undeserved profits, the common man - the middle and lower class Indian - will be left devastated by the sheer insensitivity of this move".

By forcing NPPA to withdraw its guidelines dated May, 2014 for drug price fixation, Modi has "extracted a very heavy price from the country's poor and ailing for his much awaited PR exercise while in US," Maken alleged.