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Health and Pharmaceutical Updates
What's the News?
The Government of India has announced three major initiatives to strengthen the country's public health and pharmaceutical ecosystem:
- Air Suvidha 2.0 has been introduced as a digital health declaration system for international travellers entering India.
- The Pharma Jan Samadhan grievance portal has been integrated with the Pharma Sahi Daam price-check platform to improve access to affordable medicines and grievance redressal.
- The Centre has expanded the QR code-based traceability system to cover more categories of critical medicines, including vaccines, cancer drugs and narcotic medicines, to curb counterfeit drugs and strengthen supply chain transparency.
Air Suvidha 2.0
- Air Suvidha 2.0 is a digital self-declaration portal for international passengers arriving in India.
- It enables risk-based health screening during outbreaks of communicable diseases.
- The system replaces manual paperwork with an integrated digital platform to facilitate faster airport clearance and disease surveillance.
Features
- Online submission of health declaration before arrival.
- Upload of relevant health or travel documents, if required.
- Generation of a QR code/acknowledgement after successful submission.
- Integrated with airport health authorities for efficient verification.
- Can be activated for disease-specific surveillance depending on public health requirements.
Objectives
- Early detection of imported infectious diseases.
- Strengthen border health surveillance.
- Reduce passenger processing time.
- Improve coordination between health authorities and immigration agencies.
Pharma Jan Samadhan–Sahi Daam Integration
The Department of Pharmaceuticals has integrated:
- Pharma Jan Samadhan – Public grievance redressal portal.
- Pharma Sahi Daam – Medicine price verification portal.
The integration creates a single digital platform for medicine price transparency and consumer grievance resolution.
Pharma Jan Samadhan
- Enables citizens to lodge complaints related to:
- Overpricing of medicines.
- Non-availability of essential medicines.
- Quality-related issues.
- Other pharmaceutical grievances.
Pharma Sahi Daam
- Allows consumers to:
- Verify ceiling prices of scheduled medicines.
- Compare medicine prices.
- Check Maximum Retail Price (MRP).
- Identify medicines regulated under the Drug Price Control Order (DPCO).
Benefits
- Single-window grievance redressal.
- Improved consumer awareness.
- Better enforcement of price regulations.
- Increased transparency in pharmaceutical pricing.
Expansion of QR Codes on Critical Medicines
The Government has expanded mandatory QR code-based authentication to additional categories of high-risk medicines.
Medicines Covered
- Vaccines
- Cancer medicines
- Narcotic and psychotropic medicines
- Other critical life-saving drugs
Information Available Through QR Codes
- Product name
- Manufacturer details
- Batch number
- Manufacturing date
- Expiry date
- Unique product identification
Objectives
- Prevent counterfeit and spurious medicines.
- Enable end-to-end supply chain traceability.
- Improve patient safety.
- Strengthen regulatory oversight.
- Facilitate quick product recalls when necessary.
National Pharmaceutical Pricing Framework
National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA)
Established: 1997
Ministry: Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers
Functions
- Fixes and revises prices of scheduled medicines.
- Monitors prices of non-scheduled medicines.
- Enforces provisions of the Drug Price Control Order (DPCO).
- Protects consumer interests while ensuring medicine availability.
Additional Info
Drug Price Control Order (DPCO)
- Issued under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955.
- Implemented by the Department of Pharmaceuticals.
- Empowers NPPA to regulate prices of scheduled medicines included in the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM).
National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM)
- Lists medicines considered essential for addressing priority healthcare needs.
- Forms the basis for price regulation under DPCO.