Consumers will have to pay more for some of the essential medicines as the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) of India on Friday announced a price hike of 10.7% in the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) of the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM), for the calendar year 2021 over the corresponding period in 2020.
“Based on the WPI data provided by the office of the Economic Advisor, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the annual change in WPI works out as 10.76607% during the calendar year 2021 over the corresponding period in 2020,” the NPPA said in a notice issued on Friday.
This means that the rates of nearly 800 scheduled medicines on the NLEM, used to treat fever, infections, skin diseases, high blood pressure, anaemia and heart diseases will rise by 10.7 percent beginning April 1.
“This is brought to the notice of all concerned for further action as per the provisions of Drugs (Price Control) Order, 2013,” the notice added.
The NLEM includes essential drugs like Paracetamol, Azithromycin, Phenobarbitone, Ciprofloxacin Hydrochloride, Phenytoin Sodium, and Metronidazole.
