Where is morality?

From sugar to wheat; from everyday grocery items to hand sanitizers; from gasoline to masks and medicines – hoarding has been prevalent in the last few months. Hoarding has long been a problem in Pakistan. All these items have seen supply shortages, hoarding and hence price hike in the last three months. In a global pandemic like COVID19, hoarding on essential items by consumers – though should not been encouraged at all – is natural where the main intention is survival in precarious times. However, there are situations when there is are groups with the ulterior motive of profiteering from the situation. Recent sugar, wheat, and petrol crisis are prime examples; but so is the disappearance of face masks and sanitizers and their price hike.

Hoarding has more serious faces too. The most heinous of them all is the hoarding and artificial shortage being created for medicines during the ongoing health emergency. With the outbreak of COVID19, the shortage partially comes from the undue hoarding behavior of people, which has resulted in the short supply of vitamin supplements, anti-allergy drugs and antibiotics.

Another player in the hoarding-shortage equation is the supplier be it the retailers, pharmacies or the manufacturers. And then there are instances where hospitals and doctors have been accused of hoarding and rationing prescription drugs. Drugs especially used to treat COVID19 patients have vanished from the market including prescription drugs like Tocilizumab, Remedesivir, and Azithromycin. What is ironic is that the same drugs and injections are being sold in the black market at exorbitantly inflated rates. Mind you, there is no specific drug so far fir COVID19, and doctors have been using these and many others for symptomatic relief.

The situation is getting worse as the country sprints toward peak COVID19 cases and needs urgent attention of the government, which has apparently announced to take strict action against hoarders and profiteers in the current situation. the issue also highlights a much deeper issue that that the pharma sector faces; even though there exist a multitude of local pharma companies, Pakistan almost entirely relies on imports of raw material from India and China. Government needs to move beyond simple lip service fast. DRAP needs to wake up to the health emergency at hand. It won’t be a surprise if distribution flags and price also escalates for Dexamethasone, which is a cheap and widely used steroid and is the first drug shown to be able to save lives of COVID19 patients.