Essential and lifesaving drugs no longer available in market

Various essential and lifesaving drugs are no longer available in the market, putting the health and even the lives of patients at risk.

These essential drugs are not available at the wholesale medicine market and medical stores in Lahore including outlets of all leading chains of pharmacies.

Common citizens are the ultimate victims as the prices of newer research molecules as substitutes are much higher. As per some estimates, more than 40 per cent of the drugs on WHO’s list of essential medicines are not available in the market.

“Cost of doing business has increased considerably due to historical surge in the exchange rate, inflation, wages and electricity/gas tariffs. Prices of essential drugs are already extremely low and now there is little or even no profit margin in medicines for heart disease, diabetes, cancer, epilepsy and other ailments. There is an immediate need for revising the prices of drugs to the levels to provide realistic and reasonable profit margins to manufacturers, dealers, wholesalers and retailers”, said Mian Khalid Misbah, Central Chairman Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PPMA) while talking to a group of journalists on Monday.

The timely and immediate revision of prices of drugs as per policy is critical to control drug shortages and save the pharmaceutical industry from shut down to safeguard the livelihood of millions, he said.

He added that lower than reasonable prices lead to shortages, hoarding and sale of these medicines at higher rates at the retail with patients and industry both facing hardship as a result.

As such, he added, the only way of overcoming shortage of these drugs is giving a realistic and reasonable profit margin to the entire supply chain from manufacturers to the retailers.

There are other issues like provision/import of raw materials, registration of drugs and long delays in allocation of controlled drugs resulting in shortages pain killers and epilepsy medicines, he explained.

The government should implement the drug pricing policy in letter and spirit to save the local pharmaceutical industry from impending disaster.

“If there are issues in the existing policy, the government can follow international references after due consultations with the stakeholders. But not implementing existing policies and two year long delays make no sense”, he said.

“ECC has deferred decision on 262 hardship cases. It has been almost two years since DRAP recommended increasing prices of 262 drugs while rejecting 217 other cases. These cases are still pending. It is impossible for the pharmaceutical companies to provide these drugs at old rates as manufacturing cost has increased considerably and products are unfortunately not viable. No company can sustain losses continuously and for long periods. The industry is being forced to a shutdown situation and it may never recover and the entire country will pay the price for it”, he said.