Govt to fix prices 295 essential medicines
Staff Reporter :
The government has newly declared a total of 295 generic medicines as ‘essential’, adding 135 new medicines to the list. A decision has been taken to make the sale of these medicines at government-fixed prices mandatory.
This was announced by Professor Dr Md Sayedur Rahman, Special Assistant to the Chief Adviser (Ministry of Health and Family Welfare), following a meeting of the Advisory Council held on Thursday.
He said that in order to ensure access to treatment and medicines for the public, medicine sellers will be required to sell these medicines at prices determined by the government. However, time will be given for proper implementation.
At a briefing held on Thursday afternoon at the Foreign Service Academy in the capital, Professor Sayedur Rahman said,
“An essential medicines list has been prepared, which currently includes 295 medicines. At today’s Advisory Council meeting, requests were made to include one or two more medicines. If those are added, the total may become 295 or 296. Compared to the previous list, 135 or 136 new medicines have been included this time.”
He added, “All medicines included in this list must be sold at prices fixed by the government. This is the core of the decision.”
Explaining the price-setting process, he said, “Medicines that are currently being sold at prices higher than the fixed rates will have to gradually reduce their prices to the determined level. Medicines that are already being sold at lower prices may continue at those prices or adjust their prices upward, but only up to the maximum fixed limit.”
Stating that four years will be allowed for phased implementation, he said,
“Prices will be adjusted step by step every year so that within four years they align with government-fixed prices. By definition, essential medicines are sufficient to treat most diseases affecting about 80 percent of the population. Therefore, controlling the prices of these medicines will have a major impact on treatment and access to medicines for 80 percent of the country’s people. This is a landmark decision.”
He further said that for around 1,100 generic medicines outside the essential list, instead of fixing specific prices, a price range will be determined. These medicines may be sold at prices 15 percent higher or lower than the government-determined reference price.
Explaining further, he said, “For medicines produced by more than seven companies, prices will be fixed based on the average of prevailing market prices. For example, if a medicine is sold between 10 and 20 taka, its price will be set at 15 taka, with a margin of plus or minus 15 percent. For medicines produced by fewer than seven manufacturers, price limits will be determined by considering international market prices.”
Professor Sayedur Rahman also said that the Advisory Council has approved a policy on price determination, which will be published soon. Once implemented, no medicine will remain completely outside regulatory control. The policy will also apply to newly introduced medicines.
The policy includes new provisions aimed at increasing domestic API (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient) production capacity. Under this, importers will be required to obtain a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA) or an authorized authority before importing APIs.
To obtain the NOC, importers must prove through official verification that the API is not produced domestically, or that domestic supply is insufficient, or that the price of locally produced API is more than 20 percent higher than the International Reference Price (IRP). The DGDA or the relevant authority must complete the NOC issuance process within seven working days of receiving the application.
Meanwhile, on July 24, the Ministry of Health formed an 18-member task force to determine prices of essential medicines. The task force was headed by Professor Dr Md Shahinul Alam, Vice-Chancellor of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University. Although the committee was supposed to submit its report within one month, delays occurred due to various obstacles. The government finalized the list based on the task force’s recommendations.
It is learned that in 2016, a list of 286 essential medicines was prepared, including antibiotics, pneumonia medicines, cold and fever drugs, antihypertensives, gastric ulcer medicines, anthelmintics, painkillers, asthma medicines, and vitamins. At that time, prices were fixed for only 117 medicines. Although the list was supposed to be updated annually, there was no effective monitoring over the past nine years.
Earlier, the 1982 National Drug Policy also included a list of 286 essential medicines. According to World Health Organization guidelines, the list should be updated every year, but it was updated only twice-in 2008 and 2016. As a result, the general public was deprived of the benefits of the essential medicines list. Of the 286 life-saving medicines, the government could fix prices for only 117, while prices of the remaining medicines were set by manufacturers. This led to arbitrary price increases in many cases and significantly raised patients’ treatment costs.