- Kerala Government has announced to set up a price monitoring and research unit (PMRU) to track violation of prices of essential drugs and medical devices under the Drugs Price Control Order (DPCO).
- Kerala is the first State to establish such a monitoring unit as per the proposal of NPPA.
- More than five years ago, National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) had proposed such a system for the States and the Union Territories
- A society had been registered to get Central assistance for the functioning of the unit.
- The new office would start functioning as soon as infrastructure was set up.
- The State Health Secretary would be the Chairman and the Drugs Controller would be member secretary of this unit.
- Other members include State government representative, representatives of private pharmaceutical companies, and those from consumer rights protection fora.
- The society would also have an executive committee headed by the Drugs Controller.
About National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority
- NPPA is an organization of the Government of India which was established, inter alia, to fix/ revise the prices of controlled bulk drugs and formulations and to enforce prices and availability of the medicines in the country, under the Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 1995.
- The organization is also entrusted with the task of recovering amounts overcharged by manufacturers for the controlled drugs from the consumers.
- It also monitors the prices of decontrolled drugs in order to keep them at reasonable levels.
