New Delhi, Sept. 22 -- The Supreme Court on Tuesday expressed serious concern over the wide gap between the Price to Retailer (PTR) and Maximum Retail Price (MRP) of life-saving medicines, particularly cancer drugs, questioning the absence of effective price controls.

A Bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta observed that in some cases, medicines bought by retailers for around Rs 2,700 were sold to patients at an MRP of Rs 27,000.

"That's broad daylight dacoity with the patients," Justice Mehta remarked, questioning how such pricing could be permitted for essential medicines.

The bench also flagged the burden on public funds when inflated medicine prices are reimbursed under government health schemes such as Ayushman Bharat. ...