Cancer drug price goes up from Rs 8,000 to Rs 1.08 lakh

The Union government decision to decontrol prices of 108 drugs -- used to treat tuberculosis, AIDS, diabetes and heart ailments -- has jacked up their prices. In some cases, prices have seen an unbelievable rise.

The price of Glivec, an anti-cancer tablet, for example, has risen from Rs 8,500 to Rs 1.08 lakh.

Plavix, used to treat blood pressure and heart ailments, will cost Rs 1,615, against the earlier Rs 147. An anti-rabi injection, Kamrab, priced at Rs 2,670, will now cost Rs 7,000.

In a circular issued before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the US, the government asked the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA), an autonomous body, to withdraw its May 2014 guidelines on drug price control.

NPPA had capped the prices of these 108 drugs, in addition to the already listed 800 essential drugs, to improve their affordability, in the wake of official figures that there are 4.1 crore diabetes, 4.7 crore coronary heart disease, 22 lakh TB, 11 lakh cancer and 25 lakh HIV/AIDS patients in the country.

DA 2015

Dearness Allowance from July 2015 – Union Cabinet Likely To Approve 6% Hike Today

SEPTEMBER 9 2015 admin

Union Cabinet Likely To Approve 6% DA Hike Today

The Union Cabinet is likely to consider tomorrow a proposal to increase dearness allowance to 119 per cent from 113 per cent, which if cleared will potentially benefit over 30 lakh central government employees and 50 lakh pensioners including dependents.

“The proposal to increase dearness allowance by six percentage points to 119 per cent is likely to be taken up by the Cabinet tomorrow,” a source said.

Earlier in April, the government had hiked DA by 6 per cent to 113 per cent of their basic pay with effect from January. DA is paid as proportion of the basic pay.

The proposed DA hike will take effect from July 1. As per the agreed formula, the DA rate increase is an average of 12-month consumer price index-industrial workers from July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015.

The proposed hike is in accordance with the accepted formula based on the recommendations of the 6th Pay Commission.

However, president of Confederation of Central Government Employees’ and Workers KKN Kutty said: “The government should have given interim relief and merged DA with basic pay in view of the extension of term of the Seventh Pay Commission by four months till December 31, 2015.”

Elaborating, Kutty added: “The government assured employees that the Seventh Pay Commission will submit its report in 18 months. It’s delaying submission of the report by the commission because it doesn’t want to increase its salaries bill this fiscal.”

He further said that keeping in view the real rate of price rise, DA should have been 185 per cent of the basic pay.

Last month, the Cabinet had given approval for the extension of the term of the Seventh Pay Commission by four months up to December 31.

Source : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/