Round One Goes to Pharma Cos; NPPA Order Withdrawn
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RNI No. DELBIL/2012/45560 Monthly Newspaper Vol - 3, Issue - 4 DL(E)-20/5415/2012-14 Fitness October 1st - 31st, 2014 • ` 10/- • New Delhi Diet A Newspaper For the Health Health Conscious Newspaper for the health conscious Yoga Ready Reckoner Of Current Medicine DRUG TODAY Medical Formulations For latest updates and exclusive reports on health and medicine log on to www.drugtodayonline.com a complete website for the MedicalMedicalMedical TimesTimesTimes health conscious CITY SCOPE P2 PHARMACY P4 REVIEW P6 EXCLUSIVE P14 Salary scam in LNJP: FIR against Now, a much longer shelf Studies reveal role of curcumin Let Diwali spirit prevail, eight officials among eleven life for rotavirus vaccine in the treatment of OSMF avoid undue indulgence Not emergency, patient's status determines entry Poor weeded out to accommodate VIPs at AIIMS, allege regulars BS.Rawat @drugtodayonline.com Now, registrations NEW DELHI: ‘Sorry! No beds at AIIMS go online are available, for now’. This is the standard excuse made by of- NEW DELHI: The All India ficials at the All India Institute of Institute of Medical Science Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for not (AIIMS) integrated all the OPD admitting or, to put in a cruder clinics into a unified platform manner, turning away critically ill for registration of both new patients from the hospital. and old patients. The new sys- This simple phrase has been tem is billed to streamline the heard so frequently that it has functioning of the country’s lost its meaning on the desperate premier medical institute. P2 families of star-crossed patients. Patients in the open awaiting their turn for admission at AIIMS Of late, people have started ques- chance of getting admission, al- pital gave him another date citing VIP patient does not turn up at the tioning the veracity of the claim. lege regulars. the same reason – no beds avail- hospital for admission. This ex- The common refrain is that only Take the case of Ranbir Ku- able. He has a reason to believe plains why there is always dearth VIP or VVIP patients can deem of mar, 28. A heart patient, Kumar that his bed was given away to of beds in the premier healthcare getting admission in AIIMS. Un- was given an admission date. But some resourceful patient in the centre of the country. Privileged less you are somebody or known when he turned up on the stipu- intervening period. patients here are euphemistically to somebody, you stand no lated date, the officials at the hos- Bed is all yours till the time a Continued on P 3 Nurse's murder: Medical college decides to take Chinks in security NEW DELHI: Murder of a midwifes on board, kicks up row nurse working in Lok Nay- ak Jai Prakash Narayan Nabanita.Sengupta Hospital here brought into @drugtodayonline.com Locus standi of the hospital questioned sharp focus security at hos- pitals in the National Capi- KOLKATA: In defiance of the set By its decision to recognise midwifes and special attendants RG Kar tal. Body of the 45-year- legal norms, RG KAR Medical Col- Medical College stirred a hornet’s nest. It evoked a sharp reaction old nurse was found in a lege here has decided to give mid- from the state Health Department. Terming the move as illegal, it semi-nude condition in the wifes and special attendants offi- questioned the locus standi of the medical college hospital and Tri- bathroom of the hospital’s cial status. The college authorities namul MLA to issue certificates of recognition to anybody.—P 11 staff quarters. This is the have taken the decision after tak- second murder of a nurse ing into confidence local political in the hospital’s premises leadership. ers of the area has decided to give ing of RG Kar Medical College in a year. The management of the hospital such workers documents certify- Patient Welfare Society attended Details on P 2 in connivance with political lead- ing their official status. At a meet- Continued on P 11 Round one goes to pharma cos; NPPA order withdrawn BRAJESH KUMAR NEW DELHI: Even as the legal battle between the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) and Pharma companies is on, develop- ments in the industry took a new turn. The De- partment of Pharmaceuticals under the Minis- try of Chemical and Fertilisers has clarified that after careful consideration in consultation with the Ministry of Law and Justice it had decided to convey to the courts that the guidelines dated May 29 this year are to be withdrawn. The clarification came as a booster dose to pharma companies which were up in arms with the regulator. The industry interprets the clari- fication as curtailment of power of the NPPA from a prospective date. However, the Govern- ment says that the July 22 order of NPPA needs to be seen in the above context. Vindicated pharma camp “The Govern- goes into jubilation mode ment has neither On P4 withdrawn the powers delegated to NPPA on May 30, 2013 nor NPPA has been directed to withdraw the orders dated July 10, 2014,” the department said in a statement. The department’s response to the Courts about the powers of the National Pharmaceutical Pric- ing Authority’s (NPPA) to fix the prices of non-es- sential medications, has come as a pleasant sur- prise for the pharma industry which was striving hard for an amicable settlement of the dispute arising out of the price control order. The recent clarification of the Department of Pharmaceuticals was against NPPA’s decision to cap prices of more than 100 drugs. The deci- sion had evoked protests from several pharma- ceutical groups, which even took recourse to legal action against the regulator. The NPPA had even withdrawn a controversial guideline it had invoked to cut prices of drugs outside of a gov- ernment-drawn list of essential medicines after receiving directions from the department. The Government took a fresh stand on the basis of an opinion of Solicitor-General Ranjit Continued on P 5 DRUG TODAY MEDICAL TIMES 2 CITY SCOPE 1st - 31st October 2014, New Delhi Serpentine queues at AIIMS are Poster at AIIMS pays homage to her as Surabhi lives on history; registration goes online BS.Rawat @drugtodayonline.com BS.Rawat NEW DELHI: A poster of @drugtodayonline.com Surabhi Bindal, a class XII student who in her death NEW DELHI: With a view to over- gave the gift of life to eight crowding at the hospital, the All patients awaiting organ India Institute of Medical Sciences transplant at Organ Re- (AIIMS) integrated all the OPD trieval Banking Organisa- clinics into a unified platform for tion (ORBO) through, un- accident was a terrible to see their daughter dying registration of both new and old veiled at the All India In- blow, emotionally and oth- in front of their very eyes. patients. The new system is billed stitute of Medical Sciences erwise, for her family. But But, her mother Seema, 41, to streamline the functioning of (AIIMS) recently. the exemplary courage a commerce graduate who the country’s premier medical in- DTMT had published the and humanitarian concern holds classes for college stitute. story of Surabhi under the her parents and relatives students at her residence, The new system will enable all headline “Mom immor- shown at that trying time kept her nerve under such patients to seek advance appoint- talises her through gift of was hugely praiseworthy. trying circumstances and ment from the comfort of their lives” in its December 2013 Through this one noble decided to keep Surabhi home or anywhere in the world issue and demanded her gesture they have inspired “alive”. online or through mobile phones poster at the AIIMS prem- many Surabhis who would Putting her grief behind, or interactive voice response (IVR) Patients waiting in queues for registration at AIIMS, a common sight at OPD counters to be a things of the past ises on the line of Anmol, thank them for such a no- she came forward to do- system at the OPD. another organ donor. ble gesture all their lives. nate her organs to those The IVR system makes it possible tient Statistics Display (LPSD). problems of crowding and queue- patients along with unauthorised After full one year, au- Surabhi, 17, a resident in need of them. Thus, for patients to book an appoint- There is a 25 per cent ‘tatkal jumping. persons entry into the medical thorities woken up to the of Krishna Nagar in Delhi Surabhi’s heart, two kid- ment with doctors over phone by quota for new walk in patients for The public is still waiting for the centre and thereby resolved space noble gesture of the fam- suffered irreversible brain neys, liver and two corneas dialing 09266092660. Soon after each department and these pa- promised new system – a system crunch and other issues. ily of the deceased. Union damage in an accident. On were used to save people making a call from your cellphone, tients will also be seen only after that allows patients to schedule Some doctors feel this is not a Health Minister Dr Harsh September 12, 2013, she in need. you will get an SMS confirming booking of ‘current’ appointment. appointments up to 10 days in ad- wise decision as patients would Vardhan unveiled a poster was on way home with Talking to DTMT, Seema the appointment and will provide This step was necessary so as to vance. Dedicated counters for reg- have to come to the institute again of her at the premier health her four-year-old brother Bindal said: “I wanted my a unique number for the patient.