Oxytocin – A life saving drug will now be supplied by just one company and at a higher price. Do Indian women really need to suffer?
While India is celebrating the GST removal from sanitary napkins, the government has taken a drastic step which may be bad for women; especially mothers.
The government has barred private companies to produce and supply oxytocin.
Oxytocin is a life-saving drug which is used in labour rooms for postpartum haemorrhage and pain management. It is an essential drug and World Health Organisation also recommends it.
The government has now permitted just one public sector unit to produce and supply oxytocin. Karnataka Antibiotics & Pharmaceuticals Ltd (KAPL), despite having no prior experience with making the drug, has the sole authority over it. Imports and its formulations have also been banned.
In its official notification, the government did not specify any reason for the ban. However, the ban is mostly to tackle the unregulated misuse of oxytocin. For instance, oxytocin is said to be injected in cows in lethal quantities to yield more milk.
Healthcare experts fear a shortage of oxytocin since now there is just one source of supply for the drug.
But that’s not the only thing worrying the doctors.
Oxytocin which was earlier available for about ₹4 – ₹5 per vial, will now be sold by KAPL for ₹17 per vial. Moreover, KAPL has specified a minimum order quantity for oxytocin to 1,000 ampoules.
This rate can be stressful and unviable for small nursing homes and low-budget hospitals.
On one hand, the government is taking positive steps like removing the tax from sanitary napkins and on the other, it is fiddling with life-saving essential drugs for women.
And this is not the first time the government has put patients life in jeopardy. Government capped prices of heart stents, furoped – a life-saving drug for children and now this!
While people are conveniently distracted by the no-confidence motion debate, crucial news such as this gets dusted under the carpet.
Misuse of any drug should be dealt with under the rule of law. Why should mothers suffer because of government inefficiency to maintain law and order?
It is unbelievable to what lengths the government can go to monopolise a life-saving drug, which was already cheaper in the private sector. Oxytocin has been hiked by almost 255%!
The government caps the price of drugs manufactured by private firms but conveniently hikes it when they are going to be the manufacturers?
Is this how we willbachao our betis?
Here’s us wondering whether the rhetoric – cows are safer than women in India actually has some merit?
