Short of passing a judicial order, the Supreme Court today attacked the central government for wavering on the issue of inclusion of essential medicines in the Drug Price Control Order.
Though the government had recently included 75 new drugs in the essential list, it left out several important medicines like those for treating typhoid, hepatitis and heart diseases.
A Bench headed by Chief Justice V N Khare threatened to stop the government from implementing the price control order under the pharmaceutical policy, 2002, until a proper list was prepared.
The judges allowed four weeks to the government to clear its stand on the drug prices.
They observed that the inclusion of a medicine should not be linked to the turnover of the pharmaceutical company concerned. Otherwise, if the price of the medicine went up, it would go out of the list, according to the drug policy.
The Supreme Court was hearing the appeal of the central government against the ruling of the Karnataka High Court, which had imposed curbs on the drug policy of 2002. The apex court had stayed the operation of the high court judgment.
The high court, in a public interest petition, had ordered that "until a list of essential and life saving drugs was prepared and such drugs were brought into the basket of essential drugs under the price control mechanism, taking into account other relevant factors, the government was directed not to implement the policy of February 15, 2002, if it related to formulation of the price control mechanism.
"This part of the high court order was suspended by the Supreme Court. While staying the high court judgment, the Supreme Court had asked the government to review the essential drugs list. This exercise was going on though the court was not satisfied with the government's list.
The pharmaceutical companies supported the stand of the government. The judges have asserted that they will continue to monitor the issues till a proper list is prepared by the government.
