While the Health Ministry is determined to implement price control on medicinal drugs from January 1 next year, transnational drug companies are up in arms against this move and say a price control system is unnecessary and could be counterproductive to the delivery of good healthcare.
Chamber of Pharmaceutical Industries (SLCPI) President Vish Govindasamy claimed drug prices in Sri Lanka were much lower when compared with other countries in the South Asian region and price regulation could discourage investors.
Mr. Govindasamy, said several issues including many negative impacts would result in the event price regulations were introduced in the local market.
He warned that reputed suppliers would withdraw from the Sri Lankan market due to unattractive market conditions, thereby causing a shortage of essential drugs and the lack of competition would lead to price increases.
But Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena said the government was determined to introduce an effective medicinal drug price control from January next year with the sole intention of protecting the rights of the patient and will give all stakeholders a fair deal. (Sandun A. Jayasekera)
http://www.dailymirror.lk/news/15118-minister-insists-on-drug-price-control.html
No comments:
Post a Comment