ISLAMABAD: State Minister for National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination Ms Saira Afzal Tarar Wednesday said some pharmaceutical companies were selling drugs on inflated rates after getting stay orders from the courts.
Responding to a Calling Attention Notice she said the government was actively pursuing the cases and trying its best to vacate the stay orders from the Supreme Court of Pakistan. The stay orders would be vacated by the third week of this year.
The Calling Attention Notice was moved by Ms Shazia Mari, Mir Ijaz Hussain Jakhrani, Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah, Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho and Abdul Sattar Bachani inviting the attention of the minister to 30 percent increase in the prices of 179 life saving drugs in last few months.
The minister said the prices of life saving drugs have not been increased. A new rule is being framed to impose double fine on a company, which increases the prices illegally, she said.
Responding to a question she said the rules of Drug Regulatory Authority (DRA) would be framed by the end of current calendar year. A committee has been constituted to monitor the drug prices in the market persistently and report to the ministry on daily basis. Recently, two ware houses of some pharmaceutical companies have been seized. Besides a spurious drug producing factory has also been seized.
Strongly denying a report published in a local newspapers alleging huge increase in drug prices, she said the concerned reporter must have confirmed the prices from the market before filing the story.
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