 "pharma")
The National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) is a list released by the National Pharmaceuticals Pricing Authority (NPPA), fixing a ceiling on the prices of essential medicines so that they are affordable and widely available to everyone.
In India, it was framed on the lines of the Essential Medicines List (EML) released by the World Health Organisation (WHO). EML was first published in 1977 and had 186 medicines.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare released the first NLEM in 1996. It contained 279 medicines. The list was subsequently revised in 2003 and had 354 medicines.
In 2011, the list
