Parliament Question: Affordable medicines and regulation of private hospitals

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS DEPARTMENT OF PHARMACEUTICALS RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2807 TO BE ANSWERED ON 17th MARCH, 2026 Affordable medicines and regulation of private hospitals 2807 Shri Sant Balbir Singh: Will the Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers be pleased to state: (a) the efforts taken by Government to prevent private hospitals from selling medicines at excessive costs; (b) the measures implemented to ensure that essential medicines are made available to patients at reasonable prices in hospitals; and (c) whether there is any monitoring mechanism or penalties imposed on private hospitals that fail to comply with price regulations? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS (SMT. ANUPRIYA PATEL) (a) to (c): Prices of drugs are regulated as per the provisions of the Drugs (Prices Control) Order 2013 (DPCO, 2013) across the country. As per extant provisions of DPCO 2013, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) fixes the ceiling prices of formulations specified in Schedule-I to DPCO, 2013 and retail prices of new drugs as defined in para 2(1)(u) of DPCO, 2013. Further, in case of non-scheduled formulations, manufacturers are required to not increase their maximum retail price (MRP) of a formulation by more than ten percent of the MRP of that formulation during the preceding 12 months. In addition, NPPA also fixes ceiling or retail prices of any drug in case of extra-ordinary circumstances and in public interest under para 19 of DPCO, 2013. The price regulations under DPCO, 2013 are equally applicable to private hospital selling medicines/formulations. NPPA monitors the prices of drugs and instances of overcharging are dealt with as per the relevant provisions of DPCO, 2013. *****