This book discusses in great detail the critical barriers to access to medicines in India despite the country ascending towards the role of ‘pharmacy of the global south’. It highlights several themes, considered as impediments to access to medicines while at the same time proposing viable policy options. Some of these themes include inadequate investment in public health care, inefficient and unreliable procurement and distribution of drugs, unaffordable drug prices and pharmaceutical patents. The book calls for scaling up investment and to replicate the success of a ‘centralised procurement and decentralised distribution’ model of drugs, as in the state of Tamil Nadu, which will pave the way for universal access to essential medicines in India.

Sakthivel Selvaraj is with Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), New Delhi, as a Senior Health Economist. He is currently engaged in teaching and research in the area of health care financing and pharmaceutical economics. 

Dinesh Abrol is Professor in the Institute  of Studies in Industrial Development (ISID), New Delhi and Visiting Professor in the Centre for Studies in Science Policy, Jawaharlal Nehru University,  New Delhi. His research work focuses on the study of S&T policy, intellectual property rights, systems of innovation and industrial development.
 

K.M. Gopakumar is the Legal Advisor and Senior Researcher with the Third World Network (TWN), New Delhi. His area of focus is the global intellectual property regime and its impact on developing countries.