-The Telegraph Call to govt to adopt 'cost-based' control The 30 per cent cap on profit margins imposed by India’s drug pricing authority on 42 anti-cancer drugs will have a limited impact on patients’ expenses because many of these medicines’ prices remain “prohibitive”, a network of patients’ rights groups said on Saturday. The All India Drug Action Network (Aidan) said the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority’s cap on profit margins in effect “legitimises” the...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Patients' rights groups have accused the Centre of trying to use a decade-old programme that delivers inexpensive medicines through government-supported retail outlets to promote the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (JSA) and the All India Drug Action Network (AIDAN) on Monday expressed concern at what they said was the "misuse of the public-funded Pradhanmantri Bharatiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana for the promotion of one political party". They said...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The father of an eight-year-old boy who died in a private hospital in Gurgaon last year from dengue complications said on Thursday the hospital had refunded the full billed amount of about Rs 15 lakh after appeals by an MP and the health ministry. Public health activists said the refund had been made on condition that Gopendra Parmar withdraw the police complaint of overcharging he had filed against...

-The Times of India The transfer of the chairman of the National Pharmceutical Pricing Authority, Bhupendra Singh, who had capped the price of stents and knee implants and exposed the huge margins being charged by corporate hospitals has evoked howls of protest from public health activists. RSS-affiliate Swadeshi Jagran Manch too has taken exception to the move, tweeting sarcastically about the “reward” given to a bureaucrat for doing a good job. The All...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Health activists campaigning for affordable treatment on Wednesday urged the Narendra Modi government to resist "pressure" from foreign medical device makers and expand price caps to new classes of medical devices. The All India Drug Action Network (AIDAN), a consortium of non-government activists' groups, said it was concerned that a body of foreign medical device manufacturers had petitioned the US government seeking suspension or withdrawal of certain trade...