NEW DELHI: “We fear that Singh’s transfer in total disregard of public interest is due to the pressure from the industry and corporate hospital lobby,” said a statement from the All India Drug Action Network. “The pharmaceutical industry has long sought to undermine and weaken the NPPA to enable uninhibited profiteering and circumvention of the law.”
Sulakshna Nandi of Jan Swasthya Abhiyan said that the transparency with which the drug regulator had worked in recent times might not have gone down well with the government. “It is an unfortunate development. We were hoping that the same spirit will be followed by other departments in the health ministry but an official who was doing some commendable work has been shown the door,” she said.
Ashwani Mahajan, national co-convener, Swadeshi Jagran Manch said that the decision should be looked into by the government. “He was the key person in the agency who was doing his job as per the expectations of the Prime Minister. Although, it was a routine transfer, but, I think there should be a rethink on this,” he added.
Mahajan also did not rule out some kind of lobby or pressure behind the move. “Nothing can be saids. It was heard that there was some pressure after he exposed the heavy profiteering by corporate hospitals.”