The Government has added 106 drugs including that of Cancer, HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C to the list of essential medicines. The move will ensure their availability across India at affordable prices. This also takes the total number of items in the list to 376.
In a revision of the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) by the Health Ministry’s core committee, 106 medicines were added while 70 were deleted after a series of meetings and consultations across the country. A notification by the Health Ministry said that the NLEM, 2015 has been prepared adhering to the basic principles of efficacy, safety, cost-effectiveness and consideration of diseases as public health problems in India.
Essential medicines are those that satisfy the priority health care needs of the population. They are based on the country’s disease burden, priority health concerns, and affordability concerns etc.
The committee recommended that the list, which comes into effect immediately, be revised every three years.