Prices of essential medicines such as antibiotics, cardiac drugs, painkillers, etc are set to increase from April 2023. The reason is that the government will allow pharma companies to increase the prices due to changes in the yearly Wholesale Price Index (WPI). As per the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) the WPI is 12.12% during 2022. This is the 2nd continuous year when the increase is more than that allowed for non-scheduled drugs. Annually an increase of 10% is allowed and in the year 2021 it was over 10%. In India where most people do not have health insurance and/or unaware of the rules of reimbursement by the Mediclaim companies, the NPPA should not give its nod for such a large increase. It is understandable that pharma companies need to make profits to pay salaries, maintain infrastructures, GST etc. but not more than 5% annual rise is to be permitted. If NPPA does go beyond 5% then there should be a caveat that all pharma companies produce at least 30% generic medicines.
