KARACHI: Rising dollar prices in Pakistan have added to the woes of pharmaceutical companies.
Due to the Drape laws, many companies have stopped making medicines, and more than 100 life-saving medicines are in short supply.
Chairman of Pakistan Pharmaceutical Association (PPMA) Mian Khalid Misbah said that due to the increase in dollar value, raw material price and inflation rate in Pakistan, pharmaceutical companies produce drugs with high production cost but Under the Pricing Policy 2018 by DRAP, the prices of life-saving drugs are approved to increase by 7 to 10 percent annually, due to which Pakistani pharma companies have stopped manufacturing several drugs.
Now there are only 10 multinational pharmaceutical companies left in Pakistan which are manufacturing these life-saving drugs. Seeing the increase in demand, substandard fake drugs will also start to be found in the markets. Medicines have been deregulated by removing price controls.
Pakistan has 494 life-saving drugs, India has 384 and Bangladesh has 117 life-saving drugs, while Sri Lanka has 60 life-saving drugs. These three countries control the price of life-saving drugs. Will they prepare it themselves? They also have to pay the electricity bill, they have to pay the salaries of the workers.
Under DRAP’s pricing policy 2018, we have been approved to increase the price of life-saving drugs by 7%. In June, the inflation rate of the year will be analyzed. Every month, inflation is increasing by 35 to 40%. This means that the annual inflation rate is at least 25%. 30%, our bank markup rate is 22%, inflation is 30%, our dollar has come down from 100 rupees to 280, so it is obvious that in such a situation, a 7% increase in the price of life-saving medicines. They will not be able to be supplied upon approval.
We have met Prime Minister’s Advisor on Health Dr. Mukhtar Bharath and CEO of DRAP, in this meeting we highlighted these facts to them, Dr. Mukhtar Bharath has assured us that a joint meeting will be held in a week. , we will make them into a proposal which will be presented in the cabinet.
Pakistan’s NEML (Life Saving Medicines) is 494, out of which 262 drug hardship cases were pending but due to deregulation, 146 life saving drug cases were pending for two years. Its notification was issued in February this year in Karachi’s wholesale drug markets for several medicines for epilepsy, psychiatry, diabetes, respiratory diseases, including Revotral, Librex, Tegral, Metodyne, Metrozine, Dormicum tablets, Zinosin inhaler and Gravinate tablets and injections. There is a shortage.
63-year-old Nasreen Kausar, a resident of Karachi, said that I have been suffering from diabetes for 20 years, I have type 2 diabetes, but many medicines are not available in the medical stores of Karachi.
