Hyderabad: CPM wants Centre to drop medicine rate hike move

Hyderabad: The State CPM on Sunday demanded the Centre not to allow all pharmaceutical companies of the country to increase the prices of essential medicines by 10 percent from April 1.

In a statement, State party secretary Tammineni Veerabhadram said the Centre had allowed pharmaceutical companies to increase the rates of 850 types of medicines. This decision had burdened the poor and middle class families

He made it clear that the decision was aimed at helping corporate companies, while burdening the poor. Recalling that the Centre allowed a similar hike in 2019 and 2020, he said essential medicines like paracetamol, BP and sugar would become expensive from April 1.

Veerabhadram told the Centre that people were already suffering due to increase in the prices of various essential commodities, like petrol, diesel, domestic gas and electricity charges. He reminded the government that managements of corporate pharmaceutical companies and hospitals had become rich during Corona virus lockdown. He pointed out that BP and sugar patients would be deprived of treatment due to hike in prices of medicines.