PANJIM: The State government will now monitor the prices of all kinds of pharmaceutical medicines along with its availability through a special Price Monitoring and Resource Unit (PMRU) set up under the ages of National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA).
The Goa State Price Monitoring and Resource Unit Society, headed by Secretary Health IAS Amit Satija will function under the direct supervision of the Directorate of Food and Drugs Administration (FDA).
In a press statement issued, the government has said that the primary objective of PMRU is to ensure availability of medicines throughout the State at the notified price and to monitor the prices of pharmaceutical formulations including medical devices.
It will also be monitoring the price movement of scheduled and non-scheduled pharmaceutical formulations; collection and compilation of market based data of pharmaceutical formulations; collecting test samples of medicines at the retail market to monitor the prices; and conducting training, seminars and workshops for generating consumer awareness.
The unit will function as a society; with a board of governors; and will act as collaborating partners of NPPA with information gathering mechanisms at the grass-roots level. The members will be representatives of the Central and State government along with other stakeholders. Goa has around 75 licenced pharmaceutical manufacturing units and accounts for around 10-11 per cent of India’s pharma export.
