ISSN (Print) - 0012-9976 | ISSN (Online) - 2349-8846

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Rural Electrification in India

Over the past decade and a half, India has evidenced substantial investments in rural electrification. As per official estimates, 100% village electrification and over 90% household connections have been achieved. But, if this investment is to return rural development dividends, it is important to focus on the issues of affordability, sufficiency, and quality of electricity supply, especially for small consumers. Without this, there is a danger that the new rural infrastructure will fall to disuse, as had happened in states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh after the first wave of rural electrification. Both policies and politics need to shift focus from universal connections to upgradation of quality of supply and services.

Prices of Patented Medicines in India

Medicines with valid patents generally enjoy exemption from price regulation in most countries. In India, the Drugs (Prices Control) Order lays down the rules for regulation of prices of medicines through a National List of Essential Medicines, inserted as Schedule-I of theDPCO. While any medicine that is included in Schedule-I automatically qualifies for price regulation, theDPCO exempts patented medicines that have been developed indigenously from price control for a period of five years.Can patented molecules for emerging as well as infectious diseases be brought under price regulation in India?

Thrombolytic Treatment for Myocardial Infarction

All authors were formerly at Council of Scientific and Industrial Research HQ, New Delhi. This study looks at the available life-saving treatments for heart attacks and ischaemic heart diseases administered in India, focusing on streptokinase and finding that it is the life-saving clot-buster for the majority of patients. This brings to light that the surgical intervention of angioplasty is more of an income-biased treatment. Public-funded research and development of indigenous streptokinase has directly enabled access to treatment, especially for economically challenged patients.

Economic Impact of Technology Interventions--Streptokinase

More than 20 lakh patients of ischaemic heart disease-led myocardial infarction can benefit from a life-saving clot-buster drug in India. At the turn of the century, its availability in India was poor and no domestic production existed until the first Council of Scientific and Industrial Research licensee began production in 2001-02. Its price was less than half that of the drug made by a multinational company, the major supplier in the market at that time. Its supply increased to 1,20,000 doses in 2011 after other producers entered the market. Prices dropped by more than 50%. The economic impact of streptokinase technologies, or the value that would be lost if the licensee's streptokinase did not exist, is about `580 crore for the patients.

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