Page 560 - ES 2020-21_Volume-1-2 [28-01-21]

Prices and Inflation 187

Figure 24: year to Date Returns on Gold and other assets

Source: World Gold Council
Note: Data as on 31 December, 2020

REGULATION OF DRUG PRICES

5.32 Drug prices in India are regulated to ensure continued availability and affordability
of essential lifesaving drugs with improved access to consumers. National Pharmaceutical
Pricing Authority (NPPA), which is an independent regulator for pricing of drugs and to
ensure availability and accessibility of medicines at affordable prices, has played an active
role in addressing the exigencies arising out of COVID-19 pandemic and undertook necessary
measures to ensure continued availability of life saving essential medicines throughout the
country. It invoked extraordinary powers in public interest to ensure that policy enhances
access to life saving drugs like Heparin and Medical Oxygen. NPPA has revised upward the
ceiling price of Heparin, a Scheduled Drug, included in the COVID-19 Treatment Protocol
for a period of six months to ensure its continued availability during the pandemic. NPPA also
invoked extraordinary powers in public interest under Drug Price control Order, 2013 and
National Disaster Management Act to cap the price of Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) and
the Oxygen Inhalation (Medicinal gas) for six months. Timely intervention by NPPA eased
the situation of Medical Oxygen availability throughout the country, especially in distant and
far-flung areas. In order to ensure availability of N95 mask at affordable prices in the country,
NPPA, directed Manufacturers/ Importers/Suppliers of N95 mask to maintain parity in prices
for non-government procurements and to make available the same at reasonable prices. After
issuing such an advisory, major manufacturers/importers of N95 masks have reduced their
prices significantly up to 67 per cent. NPPA fine-tuned its interventions during the COVID-19
pandemic to strike at profiteering tendencies by manufacturers/marketers in public interest. At
the same time it also ensured enabling ecosystem for the industry to augment production of
quality benchmarked medical devices for domestic use and exports.