Over 100 Life-Saving Medicines Face Shortage in Pakistan

Over one hundred essential medicines are currently in short supply in Pakistan, hindering patients from obtaining crucial treatments for ailments such as cancer, hypertension, and diabetes. Pharmaceutical manufacturers and suppliers have revealed that individual medicines have ceased production over the past two years due to escalating costs rendering retail prices unfeasible.

Despite repeatedly urging the government to adjust prices upwards, their requests have not been granted approval thus far. Tauqeer Ul Haq, a former chairman of the Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Association, stated that hardship cases under the Drug Pricing Policy of 2018 should be decided within 60 to 90 days; however, numerous applications for price increases have remained unresolved for over two years.

He emphasized that the count of unavailable medicines is nearly 105, but the genuine figure is higher because manufacturers have ceased submitting new requests following earlier applications being left pending. Haq cautioned that patients are at risk and may be compelled to purchase counterfeit or smuggled medicines at inflated prices in the absence of original low-cost medicines.

He noted that the government still plays a role in determining the prices of life-saving drugs, which constitute approximately 40 percent of all medicines sold in Pakistan. Kamran Nasir, the senior vice chairman of the PPMA, stated that both the DRAP and the Drug Pricing Committee had recommended new prices for hardship cases and forwarded the summary to the federal cabinet for approval.

Nonetheless, the cabinet has not yet reviewed the summary, despite repeated submissions over the past two years. Nasir explained that Pakistan is the sole nation where the regulator evaluates hardship cases, but the ultimate approval lies with the cabinet. He criticized the system, claiming it lacks logic as DRAP possesses the technical expertise, whereas the cabinet lacks the time or specialized knowledge to review each medicine price issue.

According to the PPMA, drug manufacturers recently met with the Federal Health Minister, the Planning Minister, and an adviser to the Prime Minister, and they agreed to present the issue to the prime minister. Nasir added that DRAP does not automatically accept manufacturers' requests and conducts a comparison of medicine prices in neighboring countries like India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka before proposing new rates.

He highlighted that manufacturers require a reasonable profit margin to maintain operations, compensate employees, procure medicines, and invest in new production lines.