DONA PAULA: Making health technologies affordable was the discussion on a Saturday afternoon at the Difficult Dialogues at the International Center, Goa. An afternoon of intellect which on any other day in Goa is a time for siesta. Dr. James Wilson is a senior lecturer in philosophy, and the vice-dean for Arts and Humanities at moderated this discussion allowing the entire panelist to discuss their thoughts while he threw a few challenges and questions at them

The discussion started with the trailer of the medical documentary Fire in the Blood which throws light on drug prices globally and the thoughts of many great leaders like Nelson Mandela and George Bush on what they have to say on access of drugs to people and their affordability.

Dr Jaideep Gotgay was the opening speaker of the panel. Dr Gotgay is the Chief Medical Officer at Cipla Ltd., leading global pharmaceuticals which have a production unit in Goa.  He has been closely involved in the development and introduction of several drugs in various therapeutic fields, particularly those of HIV/AIDS, infectious disease, and respiratory disease.

He asserted that drugs in India cost a lot due to the patents, but Dr Gotgay pointed out that the Indian Patent Law has allowed manufacturer’s in the field of pharma to considerably lower costs of medicines and also lower the drug prices by replicating voluntary licenses that can give to manufacture the drug locally.

He also asserted that India needs to relook into medical insurance methodology and rules of medical insurance that generally cover drug and medicine costs at the time of hospitalization but most often drugs are not covered when prescribed over day care and doctor visits which makes it difficult to recover the cost of drugs and its competitive prices.

“I cite the example of Hepatitis C wherein the voluntary license given to pharma’s completely lowered the cost of the vaccine and was successfully given across India. Prices of drugs in India maybe expensive but are not unaffordable,” stated Dr Gotgay.

Meanwhile Dr Laura Downey is a Technical Analyst for the Global Health and Development Group at Imperial College London who leads on the health system strengthening work in India, and is primarily responsible for providing technical advice and support.  Laura holds a PhD in neuropsychology and neuroimaging from University College London (UCL) and a Bachelor of Psychology (Hons) from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Australia. Prior to working on iDSI, Laura worked at the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) developing clinical guidelines.

Laura asserted that in India there needs to be a focus on better road connectivity connecting people from their villages and homes to accessible healthcare facilities and pharmacies, better water which means lesser water contamination and lesser spread of disease and better hospitals, so that people receive immediate care and consultation when the disease is at nascent stages and also take diagnostics to the doorstep.