Small price hike, bigger hit as medicine discounts fade

Bhopal: The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority's (NPPA) order permitting a 0.65% increase in the prices of essential medicines came into effect on Wednesday. While the hike itself appears minimal, the anticipation of rising costs is already causing concern among patients and pharmacists alike.Chemists offered discounts of up to 20% on routine prescriptions, helping families manage monthly medical expenses. Those discounts are now vanishing, leaving patients to pay closer to the maximum retail price. The result is that the effective rise in household medicine bills is far sharper than the official figure suggests."Once the fresh stock arrives, and if the Middle East crisis continues, we expect pharmaceutical companies will inevitably pass on the added transportation and other costs to consumers," said Jitendra Dhakad, member of the Bhopal Chemist Association. He added that if the war lingers for another two weeks, medicine prices could rise far more sharply, leaving patients to bear the brunt at the pharmacy counter.Pharma manufacturers argue that the government's approved hike is insufficient given the surge in production costs. "The government has currently approved an increase of only 0.64 percent in medicine prices. Small and medium-sized enterprises are likely to face significant difficulties," said manufacturer Himanshu Shah.The impact will be felt most on everyday medicines—antibiotics, painkillers, blood pressure tablets, diabetes drugs, and inhalers—used by millions of households. "Raw materials have become expensive, production costs have also increased. Exports have also been adversely affected, with several shipping containers currently stranded at sea," said exporter RS Goswami.Industry associations warn that without larger increases, many smaller factories could shut down, shrinking the supply of affordable medicines. For patients, however, the immediate reality is that discounts are disappearing, and even a modest hike is translating into higher pharmacy bills.