Prices of essential medicines down by 6.73%, says Health Ministry

According to Health Ministry sources, India has been taking steps to ensure the availability of affordable medicines for the masses, with a significant reduction of 6.73% in essential medicines' pricing.

In 2022, after a gap of five years, the government prepared a new Essential Medicine list, including 870 medicines. So far, the prices of 651 essential medicines have been fixed.

The government has been working towards achieving its goal of universal health coverage.

The Drugs Pricing Control Order (DPCO) was formulated in 2013 by the previous government to regulate medicine prices. 

The pricing of essential and scheduled medicines is impacted by the movement in Wholesale Price Index (WPI) as per DPCO 2013.

Average prices of essential medicines have gone down almost 4 percent, the ministry said.

These announcements were made at a Monday morning briefing by Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on pharmaceuticals issues.