Jan 28 2015 : The Times of India (Delhi)
`80%-90% essential drugs being imported from China'
Chethan Kumar, Bengaluru:
If Prime Minister Narendra Modi's `Make in India' mantra
has to be implemented in some sector first, it has to be in the pharma
industry. The reason-in the past four financial years, India has imported from
China bulk drugs and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) worth about Rs
38,186 crore.Most of these have gone into making essential drugs.In November
TOI had reported that national security adviser Ajit Doval had warned the
government about overdependence on China.
If submissions to the government
by the department of pharmaceuticals are any indication, there is signifi cant
dependence on imports in the case of 12 essential drugs. “Approximately 8090%
of these (essential drugs) imports are from China,“ the department has
said.“The decision is based on economic considerations.“
The 12 drugs are-paracetamol,
metformin, ranitidine, amoxicillin, ciprofloxacin, cefixime, acetyl salicylic
acid, ascorbic acid, ofloxacin, ibuprofen, metronidazole and ampicillin. Eight
of these are on WHO's Model List of Essential Medicines.
Documents of the department of
pharmaceuticals show there has been a consistent growth in the import of drugs
and APIs from China.In 2011-12, Rs 8,798 crore worth of bulk drugs and APIs
were imported from China.The corresponding figure was Rs 11,000 crore in
2012-13, Rs 11,865 crore in 2013-14 and Rs 6,521 crore during AprilSeptember in
2014-15.
“China out-prices India when it
comes to APIs and bulk drugs,“ Sudhansh Pant, joint secretary , department of
pharmaceuticals, told TOI from Delhi.
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