The drug Refamycin, which presently costs Rs 6, is a basic drug essential in all formulations for controlling tuberculosis, according to Dr R.P. Parashar of the DAV Research Society for Health.

The multinationals, he says, forced the government to approve introduction of four additional elements in the drug's price mechanism which will hike its production cost by about 20 per cent.

The ostensible reasons for the hike is the increased employers provident fund (PF) contribution (as stipulated by Finance Bill 1995), a technical know-how fee that the foreign pharmaceutical firms are demanding, revenue and payment of profit and royalties. The multinationals involved include Lupin, Novartis and Gujarat Themis Biosyn Ltd.

The Capital's doctors are insisting that the additional money needed to pay the multinationals be taken from their profits and not extracted from the poor patient. ``Even at the present rates, 65 per cent of the patients in the country are not able to complete treatment due to poverty,'' Parashar points out. There are believed to be one crore and forty lakh TB patients in the country at present and one person is said to be succumbing to the dreaded disease every minute.