New Delhi: India on September 8 criticised the tendency to use procedure such as drug registration and testing to shut Indian pharmaceutical products out of the market and said developing countries must go in for cooperation to gain greater market access for their products.

"Strangely, sometimes cheaper and better medicines manufactured by countries like India are also confronted with problems of market access in fellow developing countries," External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha said inaugurating the 21st meeting of Health Ministers of WHO South East Asia Region in New Delhi.

"Procedures relating to drug registration, testing etc are used to shut our products out of the market," he said adding situation should change.

"There is a crying need for greater South-South cooperation in the field of health and pharmaceuticals. The interests of the large majority of the people in our countries demand that we not only sustain existing cooperation but also rapidly strengthen it," Sinha said.

Developing countries need to draw up effective strategies to ensure greater market access for generic and patented drugs which they are able to produce at competitive prices, he said adding common platforms in international fora including the WTO must be evolved and bilateral as well as regional arrangements be entered into, where appropriate.

Stating that developing countries had won a major battle for recognition of the need for access to medication at affordable prices at WTO, Sinha said the war was not yet over.

PTI