Over 800 Essential Medicines To Get Expensive From April

Prices of around 800 essential medicines including painkillers, antibiotics, anti-infective are set to go up from April as the government has allowed an increase of over 10 percent for the scheduled drugs.

The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA), India’s drug pricing authority, on Friday allowed a price hike of 10.7% for scheduled drugs-which are under price control. This is the highest price hike allowed so far.

Reportedly, this implies that the prices of around 800 drugs under the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) will increase by 10.7 per cent beginning from April 1.

The NLEM list includes drugs like paracetamol, antibiotics like azithromycin, used to treat bacterial infections, anti-anaemia, vitamins and minerals. Some drugs used for treating moderately to severely ill Covid-19 patients and steroids are also included in the list.

“Based on the WPI data provided by the office of the Economic Advisor, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the annual change in WPI works out as 10.76607% during the calendar year 2021 over the corresponding period in 2020," the NPPA notice read.

Prices of the scheduled drugs are regulated each year by the drug price regulator. The industry has been demanding a substantial increase as it has been battling rising input costs due to the pandemic.