Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha has emphasized the need for monitoring the prices of medicines to make them affordable, especially for poor people today at a seminar on “Fixation of Ceiling Prices under NLEM 2022-Ensuring Affordability” held at Pragna Bhavan.
The seminar was organized by Tripura State Pharmaceutical Price Monitoring and Resource Unit (TPMRU). The chief minister said, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) is operational to keep the prices of medicines under control and TPMRU is doing its best to achieve the same in the state.
But the common people are not aware of their activities and the regulatory provisions. In this regard, he spoke in favor of generating mass awareness about the subject.
Lauding the extraordinary performance of TPMRU in this field, the chief minister valued transparency in this trade, because the Prime Minister stresses transparency, and so is the state government.
He said the state government is giving priority to the health sector. Already under the Ayushman Bharat scheme 13 lakh cards have been distributed in the state and about 2 lakh applications have been settled.
Not only that he urged the health department to explore the prospects of opening the pharmaceutical industry in the state which will also add up to the state’s industrial status. At the same time, he was anxious about the mushrooming medical stores and reiterated the need for keeping a vigil on them so that drugs or intoxicants are not sold in the name of medicines.
Lastly, he wished the organization for their work and urged everyone to come forward to build “Ek Tripura Shrestha Tripura” .
Among others present in the program were Ratan Kumar Khatwani, Director of NPPA, Dr. Debasis Basu as the Guest of Honor, Secretary of the health and family welfare department, Government of Tripura as a special guest, director of the state’s health services department and chairman of TPMRU Dr. Subhasis Debbarma, Deputy Drugs Controller-cum-Member Secretary of TPMRU Kanchan Sinha, representative different pharmaceutical associations, NGO’s and students of RIPSAT. In the beginning, the guests were felicitated with Risha, mementos, and plants.