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People can file complaints about drugs being over-priced and their sale without approval..........By MS Kamath
The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has launched a system to enable filing of complaints online against overcharging of drugs, complaints regarding non-availability of medicine and sale of a drug without approval. The system comes at a very apt time as international companies push various formulations in the Indian market without any control, and pharmaceutical companies resort to all means fair and foul to promote their products.
Pharma products differ from others in their production and marketing because they are sold to a vulnerable group of people who have to take recourse to medicines under medical prescription. In India, chemists often act as doctors. Patients who cannot afford doctors’ services turn to self-medication as an alternative. The situation is worsened by companies producing only high-end drugs, which means that markets are hit by an artificial scarcity. Sharp marketing practices in the sale of tonics and vitamins, which do not come under pricing control add to the murkiness of the scene.
The NPPA has been entrusted with controlling drug prices and enforcing the Drug Price Control Order but by embracing the additional duty of monitoring the availability and correct pricing of drugs, it has offered the consumer, particularly the socio-economically backward and rural classes, the chance to air their grievances.
The NPPA’s offer to look into the sale of drugs without approval will help correct anomalies in manufacturing and distribution of pharma products.
Pharma companies often push their products for indications which are either non-existent or just fictional. Tonics, revitalisers and quick-fire remedies are examples of such gimmicks. The electronic media is full of advertisements of such products. Consumer activists will now have a chance to file complaints against such exploitation. Fairness creams, medicines which increase height and tonics can be targeted for a quick remedy under the new guidelines of the NPPA.
The NPPA has guaranteed that all complaints would be redressed within 30 days of being filed. To encourage to consumers to step forward, complainants whose cases are found to be genuine will be awarded Rs1,000.
URL: http://epaper.dnaindia.com/epapermain.aspx?edorsup=Main&queryed=9&querypage=5&boxid=30893998&parentid=59062&eddate=03/03/2008
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