Recent news about the short supply of Deferoxamine, a life-saving drug used by thalassemia patients, is a cause of serious concern for more than one lakh people suffering from the disease in India. As the particular drug is only manufactured by a Swiss pharmaceutical company, the Government must ensure that the essential drug is also made at home. Further, the Government could consider the inclusion of Desferal in the category of National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) so as to prevent price rise and short supply.
Sensing the urgency of the situation, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare could have brought the drug under the NLEM while revising the list last year. The allegations brought by civil society organisations and health activists, that it is an artificial scarcity created by the Swiss firm to increase prices, must be verified by the Government. Around the same…
