Last week National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) brought 42 non-scheduled anti-cancer drugs under government price control. As announced by the drug price regulator, the prices of 390 medicines containing one or more of the 42 drugs have been slashed by up to 87%, capping the trade margin at 30%.
On the face of it, the translation of the move into action can curb large scale profiteering by chemists and drug wholesalers and will bring major relief to cancer patients stressed more by hefty treatment cost than the disease.
Speaking specifically in the context ofJ&K State, the cut in the prices of drugs that are used to treat differenttypes of cancers is a shot in the arm of cancer patients. The state, accordingto an official data, has witnessed 87 per cent increase in cancer cases in 7years. Most of the families while looking after cancer patients have beenfacing traumatic situation and the only thing that has been making it worst formost of them is managing the expenses of treatment of the illness.
Instance galore here in abundance wheneven a financially sound family had to sell-off their assets to meet treatmentexpenses. Any savings become first casualty when it comes to availing of healthcarefacilities – be it diagnostic tests or purchase of medicines. Not only savingsgo, money is also borrowed to foot the medical bills.
Think of the plight of a family whosemonthly income is Rs10,000 and they have to shell out five times more for medicinesand for each round of chemotherapy and radiation of an ailing family membersuffering from cancer. This is the scenario which forces many cancer patientsto a fatalistic surrender to destiny.
I’ve come across dozens of cancer patientsstruggling for want of finances and succumbing to the disease midway of thetreatment protocol. There are innumerable instances when the high cost ofanti-cancer drugs consumed the life of a cancer patient more than the diseaseitself. Every unit responsible for the pricing and distribution of anti-cancerdrugs like stockists, retailers, carrying and forwarding agencies and otherliaison agents are involved in the loot.
The daredevilry of the traders can begauged from the fact that even those drugs, whose prices are capped as per theDrug Pricing Control Order (DPCO) decided by the National PricingPharmaceutical Authority, are being sold at two to ten times of the originalcost whereas DPCO rules state that they cannot be sold at a profit margin ofmore than 16%.
Actually, the issue is uncontrolled costof medication In other words, the current medicine pricing is only condemningpatients to death. Even as you see cost of the medicine plainly displayed onits cover, the actual cost price of the drug remains invisible. It’s wrapped inso many layers like maximum retail price (MRP) that almost no one understandswhat’s really happening. The maximum retail price (MRP) printed on most of thedrugs or a healthcare item is already loaded with unbelievable margins rangingfrom 100 to 1000 percent!
Why the anti-cancer medicines are soexpensive at our place? An acquaintance dealing in pharma trade shared aninteresting, but thought provoking point. ‘In our state contraceptives are taxfree, while as life-saving drugs are sleeved with multiple taxes. Thus, makingthe drugs costly. Notably, many states in India have exempted anti-cancer drugsfrom tax net.
So, the state government should makeanti-cancer drug affordable by reviewing tax mechanism. Let all life-savingdrugs are made tax-free as these are more important than contraceptives.
Lastly, it’s to be seen whether the drugprice regulator’s announcement of slashing price of anti-cancer drugspercolates down to prevent out of pocket expenditure on medicines, which isotherwise believed to be the single largest contributor to pushing familiesbeyond poverty threshold in the country. Bringing down the overall healthcareexpenses, particularly in case of patients fighting cancer will go a long wayto achieve the overall goal of affordable healthcare for all. Thus,implementation of the NPPA’s cut in prices of the anti-cancer drugs is a bigchallenge for the authorities on the ground.
(The views are of the author & not theinstitution he works for)