The Indian government has decided to revise the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM), with the objective of making it more contemporary, and in line with the needs of patients.
This is in response to a representation submitted by the Heart Care Foundation of India (HCFI), on June 8, 2018, to the Prime Minister, the Health Minister, and the Law and Justice Minister of India.
For this purpose, the government will constitute a Standing National Committee on Medicines involving experts to review and revise the NLEM, and, importantly, it may include medical devices, disposables and consumables and other products used for health and hygiene, Dr KK Aggarwal President HCFI told DTMT.
Dr Aggarwal said, “There is no separate list of National Essential Devices and Disposables and it is the Union Health Ministry that issues the NLEM. There is also no information relating to National Essential Devices and Disposables.”
The committee will prepare detailed guidelines and procedures for revision of NLEM and suggest additions and deletion in the list. It will also suggest Revision of NLEM 2-15, Inclusion of Medical Devices, Medical Disposables, Medical Consumables and other products.
Dr Aggarwal stated that the list to be prepared will help guide safe and effective treatment of priority disease conditions of a population; promote the rational use of the said products; optimize the available health resources of a country. It can also be used by state governments as a guide to prepare their list of such products. It will also allow for uniformity in prices.
