Life saving drugs not available at government hospitals: survey

Life saving drugs and medicines used for treatment of diseases such as cardiac, neuro, diabetes, tuberculosis, gastric and hepatitis are not available at government hospitals, a survey carried out by Business Recorder revealed.
Already a victim of poverty and sky-rocketing inflation, the poor segment of society is finding it difficult to purchase life-saving drugs, including those used in the treatment of tuberculosis and gastric ailments, due to 50 percent increase in the price of these medicines during 2011.
According to traders, the price of following life saving drugs shot up during last six months: Price of Angisid tab (used for acute chest pain) increased from Rs 10 to Rs 25, while injection heparin (an anti-coagulant drug used by heart patients) is not available in the market. Price of injection Decadron increased from Rs 6 to Rs 20, ventoline inhaler (for asthma) from Rs 85 to Rs 200, new markazol tab from Rs 35 to 50 and Myrin-P tab (50-tab packet) used by TB patients from Rs 250 to Rs 300.
People leave the counter of government hospital dispensaries with heavy hearts because most of the medicines prescribed by physicians are not available there. Medical equipment such as x-rays and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machines are either out of order or simply not available at government hospitals, forcing poor patients to go to expensive private labs.
The ministry of health had issued a regulation in 2011 stipulating that the price of any medicine can be increased only once in 12 months provided the increased price does not exceed the maximum retail price set by the ministry. To increase the price once in 12 months, the company must inform the ministry in writing in advance about this price increase.
Talking to Business Recorder, the Vice President of Rawalpindi Medicine Traders Union Abdul Jabbar said last year the increase in medicines price seriously damaged their business because the people could not afford to purchase medicines at such high prices. He maintained that those who opted to see a homeopath instead also witnessed a rising price trend.
This year the government of Punjab doubled the budget for health to Rs 43 billion while reserving an extra Rs 5.2 billion for salaries of doctors, nurses and other paramedical staff. A TB patient Hamid Khan said that at the public hospitals/dispensaries medicines only for fever and minor ailments are available. Talking to Business Recorder an owner of a pharmaceutical company said life saving drugs are expensive because the raw material to prepare these medicines is very expensive, while on the other hand transportation cost of these drugs is also very high.