HCG is fighting the govt to keep cancer drugs costly...

So the poor don’t end up subsidising the rich instead

On 27 February, India's apex pharmaceutical pricing authority capped the trade margin of 42 cancer drugs at 30%

All told, some 517 brands of cancer medication have now seen their prices drop as a result of price control. Some by up to 87%

HCG, India's largest private chain of cancer hospitals, challenged the order in the Karnataka High Court

While HCG has faced backlash for this, it argues that price control will only hurt the vulnerable patients it was meant to help

Having spent over three decades practising Oncology in the US and India, Dr BS Ajaikumar is hardly one for the limelight. Just last month, however, Dr Ajaikumar, chairman and CEO of Healthcare Global Enterprises (HCG), India’s largest private chain of cancer hospitals, found himself the villain of the piece on social media.

He was branded “morally bankrupt” for challenging a government price control order in court. An unpopular move, given that the government order is expected to benefit 22 lakh cancer patients in the country and lead to annual savings in the ballpark of Rs 800 crore ($114 million) for the affected people.

AUTHOR

Suraksha P

Suraksha writes on Healthcare and Pharma. She has been a journalist for five years, reporting for The New Indian Express in Bengaluru and Chennai, and The Times of India, Delhi. In her previous stints she has written on health, civic issues and education. She investigated cover up of corruption in the state health department’s think tank, narrated harrowing tales of women who underwent unwarranted hysterectomies, and wrote about how loss of biometrics came in the way of Leprosy patients getting an Aadhaar card and thereby pension. She can be reached at suraksha at the-ken dot com.

View Full Profile