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Prices of essential medications will only rise by this amount; 782 medication prices will remain unchanged
Medicine Prices: The Health Ministry issued a statement saying that the wholesale price index has increased by 0.00551 per cent. On this basis, there will be no change in the prevailing maximum prices for 782 medicines, while there will be a marginal increase of one paisa for 54 medicines.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has termed false and misleading the media reports in which the prices of some essential medicines were increasing by 12 per cent from April 2024. These reports claimed that more than 500 medicines would be affected by this increase in price. The wholesale price index was being said to be the basis of this increase. The Health Ministry says the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) annually revises the maximum prices of notified medicines based on the Wholesale Price Index.
The wholesale price index has increased by 0.00551%, according to a statement from the Health Ministry. Based on this, 782 medicines' current maximum prices will remain unchanged, but 54 medicines' prices will marginally increase by one paisa. Drugs are classified into scheduled and non-scheduled formulations by the 2013 Drug Price Control Order (DPCO). Formulations that are included in DPCO 2013 Schedule I are scheduled formulations; formulations that are not included in Schedule I are non-scheduled.
Based on the Wholesale Price Index, the Department of Pharmaceuticals' National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) updates the maximum prices of scheduled drugs once a year. Schedule medicines included in Schedule-1 of DPCO, 2013 come under the category of essential medicines. According to the data released by DPIIT, the annual increase in the wholesale index during 2023 was 0.00551 per cent. Following this, the Authority in its meeting held on 20.03.2024 approved an increase of 0.00551% in the Whole Sale Index for Scheduled Medicines.
