Chennai, PMK founder S Ramadoss on Sunday appealed to the Centre to ensure affordable cancer drugs amid prevailing shortage and price hike.
In a statement, he said, 'The severe shortage of Cisplatin and Carboplatin, vital chemotherapy drugs widely used in cancer treatment across the country, is a matter of grave concern.'
While acknowledging that fair pricing for manufacturers is essential to improve drug quality and boost production, Ramadoss emphasised that the government must simultaneously safeguard the livelihoods of poor and middle-class patients undergoing cancer treatment.
'Every year, lakhs of people in India are diagnosed with cancer, and a vast majority of them rely on government hospitals for treatment', he noted, claiming, 'countless families are already trapped in debt due to medical expenses and under these circumstances, any hike in the price of chemotherapy drugs threatens to impose an unbearable financial burden on patients and their families.'
The PMK leader requested the Centre to implement several measures, including providing Cisplatin, Carboplatin, and all other essential chemotherapy drugs at highly subsidised rates to both central and state government hospitals in required quantities, formulating a special scheme to provide these life-saving medicines completely free of cost to poor and economically disadvantaged patients.
In addition, the government should ensure that the full cost of these medicines is covered under public healthcare insurance schemes, including Ayushman Bharat and Chief Minister's Comprehensive Health Insurance Schemes.
He said the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority must strengthen its price and distribution monitoring mechanisms to ensure patients are not exploited due to the price hike.
'There should be a guarantee that the uninterrupted availability of these drugs across all cancer treatment centers, down to the district government hospital level,' he added.
