{"id":194608,"date":"2022-07-07T17:10:42","date_gmt":"2022-07-07T11:40:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=194608"},"modified":"2022-07-07T17:11:22","modified_gmt":"2022-07-07T11:41:22","slug":"a-no-to-pharma-freebies-a-yes-for-public-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/a-no-to-pharma-freebies-a-yes-for-public-good\/","title":{"rendered":"A \u2018no\u2019 to pharma freebies, a \u2018yes\u2019 for public good"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Source<\/strong>: The post is based on an article \u201cA \u2018no\u2019 to pharma freebies, a \u2018yes\u2019 for public good\u201d published in the \u201cThe Hindu\u2019 on 7th<\/sup> July 2022.<\/p>\n

Syllabus<\/strong>: GS2 Issues Relating to Development and Management of Social Sector\/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.<\/p>\n

Relevance<\/strong>: Freebies in Pharma Sector<\/p>\n

News<\/strong>: Recently, a bench of the Supreme Court has given a judgment on freebies given to doctors by the pharma companies.<\/p>\n

About the M\/s Apex Laboratories Pvt. Ltd. vs Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax, Large Tax Payer Unit-II <\/em>Case<\/strong>,<\/em><\/h5>\n

The company was giving out freebies to doctors to create awareness about a health supplement it was manufacturing, which was called Zincovit<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The Judgment<\/strong><\/h5>\n

The court held that the act of pharmaceutical companies giving freebies to doctors is clearly \u2018prohibited by the law\u2019<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Earlier, it was prohibited under the Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002 <\/strong>framed under the Medical Council Act, 1956.<\/p>\n

However, at present, the law has been repealed and substituted by the National Medical Commission Act, 2019<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Further, the freebies cannot be claimed as a deduction under Section 37(1) of the Income Tax Act, 1961.<\/p>\n

Importance of the judgment<\/strong><\/p>\n

At present, the pharma products have become out of reach for the common man due to unethical<\/strong> and illegal practices<\/strong> in the pharma sector. \u00a0The judgment will go a long way to check it.<\/p>\n

The pharmaceutical companies have misused a legislative gap. <\/strong>They have actively perpetuated the commission<\/strong> of an offence<\/strong> of giving freebies<\/strong> to doctors to promote their brands.<\/p>\n

The court laid emphasis on the fiduciary relationship<\/strong> between doctor and patient. The patients consider the doctor\u2019s prescription<\/strong> as the final word on medication. Therefore, it shouldn’t be manipulated by the lure of freebies. It drives up the prices of the medicines.<\/p>\n

The judgment referred to a report issued by the United States Department of Health and Human Services Office<\/strong>. The report mentioned that the patients could save in out-of-pocket payments<\/strong> if they buy generic equivalent drugs <\/strong>instead of branded ones.<\/strong><\/p>\n

What are the other Issues in the Pharma sector?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Most of the medicines are sold at the Maximum Retail Price<\/strong>, or MRP<\/strong> in pharmacist shops.<\/p>\n

Although India has the Drug Price Control Order and Drugs and Cosmetics Act<\/strong>. The agency hardly takes any action to keep the sale price of medicines under control<\/strong>, and keep the profit margins within a prescribed limit.<\/p>\n

Way Forward<\/strong><\/h5>\n

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare<\/strong> also highlighted the same issues in its 45th report, dated August 4, 2010.<\/p>\n

Therefore, the parliament should amend law in order to compel the drug manufacturer <\/strong>to sell their pharma products at the verified genuine cost. <\/strong>This should also factor in a reasonable profit margin<\/strong> for each product. There must be a uniform rate<\/strong> throughout the country.<\/p>\n

Further, classified life-saving drugs<\/strong> should be sold at cost only or even at subsidised rates.<\/p>\n

The government can use financial tools such as income-tax provisions<\/strong> for disallowing such expenditure etc.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: The post is based on an article \u201cA \u2018no\u2019 to pharma freebies, a \u2018yes\u2019 for public good\u201d published in the \u201cThe Hindu\u2019 on 7th July 2022. Syllabus: GS2 Issues Relating to Development and Management of Social Sector\/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources. Relevance: Freebies in Pharma Sector News: Recently, a bench of the… Continue reading A \u2018no\u2019 to pharma freebies, a \u2018yes\u2019 for public good<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10328,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[212,10498],"class_list":["post-194608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-2","tag-the-hindu","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1702472429},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10328"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194608\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}