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news.India’s Health ministry is planning to organize an inter-ministerial meeting to inspect whether the current foreign direct investment (FDI) limit in the pharma industry is not at the cost of the public health goals.
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The Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP), and the Department of Pharmaceuticals, including healthcare experts from the public health foundation of India, will participate in the discussion, as reported by The Economics Times.
DIPP, which acts as the nodal ministry for framing FDI policy, will organize a discussion to throw light on how some multinationals in the past have only targeted specific therapeutic areas, including injectables and cancer therapy.
Due to this unilateral approach, Indian drug manufacturers’ power to provide low-cost alternatives in these affected segments, have been drastically eroded.
Most recently commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma requested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to re-examine the FDI policy in the pharma sector, as many provisions will weaken domestic capabilities. It could also result in forcing the country to rely on MNCs for life-saving drugs.