India is largely dependent on China for imports of drug ingredients of 12 essential drugs which are in the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) 2011, Parliament was informed today.
"As per the records available with the Department of Pharmaceuticals in case of 12 essential drugs as defined in the NLEM 2011, thee is a significant dependence on imports for the drug ingredients and 80-90 per cent of these imports are from China," Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers Ananth Kumar said in reply to a unstarred question in Lok Sabha.
The essential drugs include paracetamol, metformin, ranitidine, amoxicillin, ciprofloxacin, cefixime, acetyl salicylic acid, ofloxacin, ibuprofen, metronidazole and ampicillin, he added.
"The decision to import and the country of origin for such imports are based on economic considerations, Kumar said.
Giving the details of steps taken by the government to tackle the problem, Kumar said: "In a meeting held by in the Prime Minister's Office on 08.10.2013, it was decided to set up a Committee of Secretaries under the Chairmanship of Secretary, Department of Health Research to study and identify the active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) of critical importance."
It was also decided to work out a package of interventions and concessions required to build domestic production capabilities and examine the cost implication, he added.
The report of the committee is awaited, the minister said.
