Lucknow, Oct. 6 -- In a move aimed at improving transparency and giving patients a clearer picture of what hospitals pay for drugs and what they charge consumers, hospital pharmacies across Uttar Pradesh will have to prominently display the purchase and sale prices of medicines from November 1.

The directive is part of a wider transparency drive by the Uttar Pradesh Food Safety and Drug Administration (UPFSDA), which has also asked retail and hospital pharmacies to make key information about their operations publicly accessible online.

Under the new system, hospital pharmacies will have to display price lists showing the actual purchase and sale rates of medicines. The move is particularly significant where patients have little practica...