Differences between the government and pharmaceutical companies turned into a public spat today with the latter calling the draft pharma policy a bid to nationalise the drug industry while Chemicals Minister Ram Vilas Paswan asked the companies to have "more heart" for the poor."The new draft policy is not in tune with the industry growth with all the regulations and pricing control mechanisms proposed. This is de-facto nationalisation of the private sector with all government controls," Kewal Handa, chairman of Assocham Pharma Council and MD of Pfizer India, said.Speaking at the Assocham conference on Indian Pharma Industry: Quest for Global Leadership, Handa said the draft policy, among others, sought to impose price controls and authority to approve brand names while the industry and consumers were ignored.Paswan, on the other hand, defended the draft policy, a final shape of which is expected by the end of this month, saying it aimed not only at boosting the growth of the sector but also make common people in India benefit from it."There is still a wide gap between reasonable prices and affordable prices in a country like India where almost 30 crore people live below the poverty line," Paswan said, adding even as pharmaceutical exports continued to grow, many in the country still were deprived of medicines."Policitians have heart and less of brain whereas it is the other way round for the industry. I ask you to have more heart," Paswan said.
