Chennai, PMK founder S Ramadoss on Sunday appealed to the Centre to ensure affordable cancer drugs amid prevailing shortage and price hike. PMK founder Ramadoss urges Centre to ensure affordable cancer drugs amid shortage, price hike In a statement, he said, “The severe shortage of Cisplatin and Carboplatin, vital chemotherapy drugs widely used in cancer treatment across the country, is a matter of grave concern. The central government’s decision to permit pharmaceutical companies to raise prices to mitigate this shortage clearly indicates an official acknowledgement of the crisis.” While acknowledging that fair pricing for manufacturers is essential to improve drug quality and boost production, Ramadoss emphasised that the government must simultaneously safeguard the livelihoods of poor and middle-class patients undergoing cancer treatment. “Every year, lakhs of people in India are diagnosed with cancer, and a vast majority of them rely on government hospitals for treatment”, he noted, claiming, “countless families are already trapped in debt due to medical expenses and under these circumstances, any hike in the price of chemotherapy drugs threatens to impose an …