IT·Science Talk

India's cancer drug price cut started with one retired bank clerk. Amazing!

I read the GONOM article and the part that moved me was how it started! One retired bank clerk who could not afford her medicine took a case to the supreme court in 2022, the court called the mark-ups 'extortion', and now 137 cancer drugs will be cheaper from 9 November.

Prices down by up to 70%, trade margins capped at 30% of the maximum retail price, and it covers branded and generic, imported and domestic. ThePrint says it could save patients up to 25 billion rupees a year.

In Japan our national insurance covers most cancer treatment, so we rarely think about people selling land to pay for medicine. It makes me grateful, and also impressed by her courage.

Do people in India expect the hospitals to find other ways to charge more? The article said private hospital chains may lose revenue.