ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Standing Committee on Health on Tuesday, while expressing serious concerns over the skyrocketing inflation, shortage of essential medicines, and regular increase in the drug prices, has lambasted the government.
The committee meeting held here under the chairmanship of MNA Khalid Magsi said that the government as well as the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) have totally failed to check the ever increasing prices of the medicines. The chairman panel said that within the past few years, the price of all medicines have witnessed a 500 percent increase and there is nobody to check this practice,
The panel also took the DRAP to task over shortage of paracetamol, the most commonly prescribed medicine for Covid-19 patients.
MNA Khalid Magsi said that he was ready to go to the jail as National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has issued a notice against him, saying he was desperate to join the jail, so that he can study the Holy Quran.
The panel also expressed serious anger over the absence of the top officials of the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC), saying that no senior PMC official has joined the meeting, under such conditions the committee meetings are absolutely useless. The committee members while expressing serious reservations over the across the board price hike said not only petrol, medicines, daily use items but prices of the edible items are also increasing non-stop which has made the common man’s lives miserable.
Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan and officials of the Ministry of Health were in attendance in the meeting.
The NA panel expressed concern over paracetamol shortage in the country’s pharmacies.
The medicine is not available for the Covid-19 patients, the committee members lamented, adding that the drug regulator has failed to ensure availability of essential medicines.
They noted that rising medicine prices hit people hard as pharmaceutical companies arbitrarily increase drug rates. “Unfortunately, there is nobody to hold these firms accountable,” they added.
Dr Faisal Sultan blamed paracetamol shortage on its increased demand. Pharmaceutical companies are facing shortage of raw material used for manufacturing the medicine, he explained.
Officials of the Health Ministry said the firms import raw material used to manufacture medicines, adding medicine prices are linked with the exchange rate as the cost of production increases with an increase in prices of raw material.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022