Punjab Health Minister Highlights Price Disparities in Medications at Regional Training Program

Punjab Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr. Balbir Singh brought up the problem of the differences in cost between the same brand-name medications that are sold for varying amounts on Monday in an effort to guarantee that millions of people in the nation have access to affordable healthcare.

The Minister of Health was speaking at the opening of the three-day 4th Regional Training Programme on "Capacity Building of Drug Regulators of Northern States," which was held at Hotel Parkview and was sponsored by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Central Drugs Standards Control Organization (CDSCO), and the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) of the Government of Punjab. In attendance were Dr. S. Eswara Reddy, Joint Drugs Controller (India), Dr. Abhinav Trikha, Secretary Health-cum-Commissioner, Food and Drugs Administration Punjab, and Sanjiv Kumar, Joint Commissioner (Drugs), FDA Punjab.Dr. Balbir Singh emphasized the need for the costs of all medications to be equal and stated that the Central Government must pay attention to these issues.

He continued, "I've already brought up this matter with the Union Health Minister."In addition, the health minister expressed concerns about the quality of pharmaceuticals on the market and encouraged the Joint pharmaceuticals Controller (India) to develop specific policies to address the problem.He claimed that by guaranteeing that high-quality, reasonably priced, and easily accessible medications are available everywhere, the Indian pharmaceutical industry has made a substantial contribution to global healthcare.

He continued, "India is renowned as the world's pharmacy for high-quality, reasonably priced generic medical products."India ranks 10th in terms of value and third in terms of volume produced of generic medications. Nearly every fifth medication taken by patients worldwide is produced in India, according to Dr. Balbir Singh.In order to better implement the provisions of the Drugs & Cosmetics Act/Rules, Commissioner FDA Punjab Dr. Abhinav Trikha emphasized the need to create a dedicated platform to address the various common issues of States with the Government of India, including online licensing, drug quality, and regulatory enforcement.

Additionally, he emphasized the value of these training programs for the competence and character development of law enforcement professionals and urged CDSCO to regularly schedule activities of this nature.

In the meantime, in order to strengthen the capability of drug regulators, a three-day residential training program is being arranged for seventy-five Drug Control Officers from Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttrakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and Chandigarh.

The participants in this training will receive instruction from a number of distinguished key speakers, including JDC (I), CDSCO (HQ), New Delhi Dr. SE Reddy, Ex-Drugs Controller Odisha Hrushikesh Mahapatra, Associate Director-Quality Operation Head, M/s Cipla Ltd., DGM-Site Quality Assurance, M/s Sun Pharma Rishi Kansara, and other Officers from NPPA.