This refers to the editorial "Bitter pill" (June 19). Drug pricing is an important issue since it affects mostly the middle and lower classes. It is also highly complex since, on the one hand, if we do not provide incentives to the private sector, new molecules and drugs will not be discovered; and, on the other hand, the common man will not have access to treatment because of costly medicines. The solution of reviving the public sector manufacturing companies needs to be analysed. We need to ask why did they turn sick in the first place. Also, will it augur well if more taxpayer money is invested in the public sector, which is susceptible to corruption? Although this requires a long-term solution, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority's decision to notify the medicine prices deemed essential by internationally recognised lists would be a sweet pill to patients, who no less "suffer" from the prohibitive pricing of drugs.
Gopal Nayak Mumbai
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