Relief for patients: Govt fixes retail price of 42 essential medicines

New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): Giving a big relief to the common people, the central government has fixed the retail prices of 42 common medicines. These include broad-spectrum antibiotics and medicines of Ipca Laboratories. These medicines are especially used to prevent organ rejection after organ transplantation.

In the new prices fixed by the government, the price of Meropenem and Sulbactam injection has been fixed at Rs 1,938.59 per vial. At the same time, the price of Mycophenolate Mofetil has been fixed at Rs 131.58 per tablet. Apart from this, Abbott Healthcare's Clarithromycin Extended-Release Tablet, used in the treatment of bacterial infections, will now be available at Rs 71.71 per tablet.

NPPA's order

It is worth noting that the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) had issued an order in February this year. It said that all drug manufacturing companies will have to submit the list of fixed prices to the dealers, state drug controllers and the government.

Along with this, it was also clarified in the order that every retailer and dealer will put the price list and supplementary list in a public place, so that consumers can easily check whether the medicines are being sold at the price fixed by NPPA or not.