Paigam-E-Jagat/Maur Mandi 23 July- Under pressure from pharmaceutical companies, the government has given a big shock to the general public by increasing the prices of eight medicines essential for humanity by up to 50 percent. Workers and the poor have a choice whether to eat bread or medicine. The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority has increased the prices of eight medicines. In view of the threat posed by the companies to production, this increase has been done to ensure the continued availability of medicines.
Earlier, the said authority had also exercised such extraordinary powers in 2019 and 2021 to revise the maximum price for 21 and 9 formulations respectively, including Bezal Penicillin 10 Lakh IU Injection, Etomopine Injection 06 mg, Streptomycin Powder Injection 750 mg and 1000 mg, Salbutamol Tablets 2 mg and 4 mg, Respirator Solution 5 mg, Pilocarpine 2% Drops, Cefadroxil Tablets 500 mg, Desferrioxamine 500 mg. Also, the names of the specific companies that have been allowed to make any increase are not clearly mentioned in the publicly available information. Now when the price of the medicines will increase, the purchasing power of government hospitals will reduce.
This will create a barrier in access to healthcare for a large population. A group of big pharmaceutical companies have paved the way for price hike as the demand for price hike was made on the ground that production is expensive. The hike in the price of medicines has opened the way for fake drug mafia.
The government never tires of giving India the status of "Vishwa Guru", but the reality is just the opposite. There are apprehensions of shortage of government supplies. Irregularities in the supply of medicines are coming to the fore in many places in rural dispensaries of Punjab. On the other hand, the Punjab government is claiming that the number of free medicines in district hospitals has increased to about 500.
Similarly, the quota of medicines has also been increased in sub-divisions and other centers, but according to reports, hundreds of rural dispensaries are still running without medical staff or infrastructure. The Punjab government has proposed a budget of Rs 5598 crore in the health sector for the financial year 2025-26. 
The intelligentsia demands that the central and state governments should keep in mind the people struggling with poverty and not the companies while reining in the pharmaceutical companies and fixing the prices of life-saving medicines.