Minister for Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Ananth Kumar told Rajya Sabha on Thursday that the Centre is trying to make prescription of generic name of a medicine mandatory by amending the Medical Council Act.

He also added that the Centre was planning to allow pharmacists to provide a generic drug to a patient even if the drug recommended by the physician is a branded one. “This measure will help a number of poor patients,” Ananth Kumar said while replying to a calling attention motion on the high prices of essential medicines.

Initiating the debate, senior SP MP Naresh Agarwal said due to absence of a pharmaceutical pricing policy, big companies were looting people in the name of providing quality medicines. He also said many clinics are running their own pharmacies forcing patients to buy branded medicines.

“Without an effective policy from the Centre this cannot be curbed,” he said. He also demanded that the Centre provide financial assistance to States so that medicines can be made available cheaper through government hospitals.

Ananth Kumar said 17 States have made efforts to give medicines at a cheaper rate to consumers. He said the Centre will open 3,000 pharmacies (Jan Oushadhi Outlets) around the country to ensure cheap medicines to people.

He said the prices of medicines included in the National List of Essential Medicines have gone down in the recent past as a result of downward trend in the wholesale price index.

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