Morphine sale made easy

The Lok Sabha on Thursday cleared a legislation that will ensure easy availability of pain-relieving medicine morphine, across the country for cancer patients, who suffer from unbearable pain.

After a brief discussion, the Lower House passed the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Amendment) Bill, 2011, moved by the minister of state for finance, Namo Narayan Meena. Introduced in the Lok Sabha in 2011, the bill will now have to be passed by the Upper House before it becomes a law.

Besides tightening the penal provisions against drug traffickers, the bill aims to aid doctors and hospitals to procure morphine more easily for cancer patients.

In India, there are approximately 28 lakh cancer cases at any given time and at least five lakh cancer deaths occur every year.
DHNews Service