DPCO meaning: drug price control and your clinic What the 2013 order controls, the terms it defines, and the rules that reach a clinic that sells medicines to its patients.

The Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 2013 (DPCO) is the Central Government order, made under section 3 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, under which ceiling prices are fixed for the scheduled formulations in its First Schedule and no person may sell a formulation to a consumer above the price list or label price, whichever is less. The First Schedule is the National List of Essential Medicines, now the 2022 edition. Medicines outside it are "non-scheduled formulations". For those, paragraph 20 has the government monitor the maximum retail price and stop any manufacturer raising it by more than ten percent in twelve months.

What is the DPCO?

A price control order for medicines, issued by the Department of Pharmaceuticals and implemented by the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA). NPPA's own page says it was "constituted through a Government of India Resolution dated 29th August, 1997" and that its responsibilities include "fixing and revising drug prices as per the provisions of the Drugs Prices Control Order (DPCO), monitoring compliance and availability of drugs". The order replaced the Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 1995.

Where does the rule come from?

From the order itself, as notified in the Gazette and amended since. The paragraphs that reach a seller are short. Paragraph 26 is quoted above. Paragraph 27 says "No dealer shall sell loose quantity of any formulation at a price which exceeds the prorata price of the formulation." Paragraph 24(4) says "Every retailer and dealer shall display the price list and the supplementary price list, if any, as furnished by the manufacturer, on a conspicuous part of the premises where he carries on business", and paragraph 25(3) says the same for non-scheduled formulations. Paragraph 28(b) says no dealer shall "withhold from sale or refuse to sell any drug available with him to a customer intending to purchase such drug".

What it means for a small clinic that dispenses

Paragraph 26 is written for "any person" selling to "any consumer", so it is the line to keep in mind at the desk. Take Sunrise Clinic, a sample single-doctor clinic that hands patients a few days' supply of a tablet cut from a strip. The charge for that supply cannot go above the printed price or the current price list, whichever is lower, and paragraph 27 limits a loose quantity to the pro rata price of the pack. If the clinic sells medicines as a business, the retailer duties in paragraphs 24(4), 25(3) and 28 are the ones to read, along with the drug licence conditions your State Drugs Controller sets.

The doctor's own rules sit alongside. Clause 6.3 of the 2002 conduct regulations says "It is not unethical for a physician to prescribe or supply drugs, remedies or appliances as long as there is no exploitation of the patient", and that a physician "should not run an open shop for sale of medicine for dispensing prescriptions prescribed by doctors other than himself". Vitels bills consultation and procedure fees; it has no pharmacy or stock module, so medicine sales and their price lists sit outside it.

Does the DPCO apply to a single-doctor clinic?

The order sets no size threshold. Paragraph 26 applies to any person who sells a formulation to a consumer. A clinic that only prescribes and sells nothing has no selling duty under the order. To check a price, NPPA publishes ceiling price lists on its website and runs the Pharma Sahi Daam app; its helpline is 1800111255.