Medicines are important for addressing health problems and improving quality of lives. They form an indispensable component of health systems in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases and in lessening disability and functional deficiency.
The ultimate goal of all medicines is to help patients to live long, functional and satisfactory, pain free life.
India produces 8 per cent of the medicines available in the global market in terms of volume and ranks 13th in world production by value, but 60 per cent (499-649 million) of the population in India does not have regular access to essential medicines. The private health sector provides 81 per cent of outpatient and 45 per cent of inpatient care in India, as public health facilities providing free or subsidized care, are inadequate in number and infra structure.
Medicines form a substantial portion of out of pocket spending on health by households in India. Further, these purchases are mostly made for patients who do not need hospitalization. The costs of medicines are highly variable and not affordable for the economically poor. High costs of medicines contribute to decreased access to healthcare.
Just as in cities, the out of pocket health spending has risen in rural India. Most of the out of the pocket expenditure made by consumers is actually on buying medicines (52%). Rising costs prevent households from buying the medicines that they need, eventually leading to poor and compromised health conditions. Affordability of medicines thus, is a major issue determining access to medicines, as social insurance especially for people in the unorganized sector is lacking.
We intend to do the following in order to achieve accessible and affordable medicines: