Why did the government approve increase in the price of Cisplatin-Carboplatin amid shortage of cancer medicines? Is the imposition of Para-19 of NPPA an indication of the seriousness of the drug crisis? Is the treatment of patients being affected by the ‘non-profitable’ strategy of companies? Will the availability of medicines really improve after the price increase or will the crisis continue?
New Delhi: A very sensitive and scary news has come to light for millions of patients and their families fighting the battle with cancer in India. The stock of life-saving chemotherapy drugs in the country’s hospitals is almost on the verge of exhaustion. In view of this unprecedented crisis, the Central Government has taken a decision which has openly exposed the chaos in the health system of the country. The government has given the green signal to suddenly increase the prices of the main cancer treatment drugs – Cisplatin and Carboplatin. This decision has officially proved for the first time that the country’s cancer hospitals are currently facing a dire crisis.
Secret letter of Department of Pharmaceuticals: ‘Para 19’ was used extensively on 7th June!
The suspense behind this entire incident was revealed when a highly confidential government letter came to light through national media reports (News18). The Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) wrote an emergency letter to the Member Secretary of the National Pharmaceuticals Pricing Authority (NPPA) on 7 June 2026.
According to this letter, the Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers has given ‘in-principle approval’ to implement ‘Para 19’ of the Drugs Price Control Order (DPCO), 2013. Let us tell you that ‘Para 19’ is that Brahmastra or special power of the government, which is used only when the availability of any essential medicine in the country is in complete danger. This rule gives companies the freedom to increase rates by ignoring the normal price-control system.
Testing of 82 drugs and that dreadful warning from Tata Memorial!
Why did the government have to take such a drastic step? Behind this is an in-depth and secret investigation report of an Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC). The pharmaceutical companies had submitted before the committee a list of 82 such medicines, whose production costs had increased and they had threatened to stop manufacturing. After a thorough review, the committee put 78 drugs on hold, but considered 4 drugs to be extremely life-saving.
These included carboplatin and cisplatin injections. The reason behind this decision was the serious warning from the country’s most prestigious Tata Memorial Cancer Hospital, which said that if the supply of these medicines is not restored immediately, there will be an outcry in the hospitals. Both these injections are used as ‘first-line’ i.e. the first and mandatory chemotherapy in the treatment of many types of cancer (such as lung, ovarian and breast cancer).
Bloody game of pharmaceutical companies: ‘They were incurring losses, hence they stopped production’
The economic conspiracy behind this shortage is very shocking. The companies argued before the government that the prices of the raw materials used to make these medicines, i.e. Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API), have increased significantly across the world. Apart from this, due to fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates (position of rupee against dollar) and rising production costs, they were incurring huge losses in selling these medicines.
As a result, the companies, as a deliberate strategy, stopped producing these medicines. That means the lives of patients were at stake and the pharmaceutical lobby was adamant on their profits. Now that the government has capitulated and given its approval to increase the prices, the companies have asked to start production again.
Medicines can become expensive by up to 50%! How much will it cost the patients’ pockets?
Now the biggest suspense and fear is about how much the cost of cancer treatment will increase? According to government documents, under the formula suggested by the ministry to the pricing authority, the price can be increased by 10 percent every year from the last time the price was decided, the maximum limit of which has been fixed at 50 percent. However, the cost of raw materials is being re-examined before deciding the final rate. But it is clear that in the coming days, cancer treatment is going to be further out of the reach of middle class families.
Delay in treatment, compromise on dosage: Doctors in hospitals are in trouble
Major oncologists (cancer experts) across the country have made very scary revelations. Due to shortage of medicines, patients’ chemotherapy schedules are being disrupted, their doses have to be reduced and treatment is delayed for weeks, due to which the risk of cancer spreading has doubled. Doctors are forced to resort to other expensive and less effective alternatives in place of these platinum agent medicines. After this intervention of the government, will the medicines be able to come back in the market immediately or will the patients have to wait longer? This suspense still persists.