ISLAMABAD: As the inflation-affected people continue to be affected, the departing caretaker administration makes yet another move that affects the citizens of the financially constrained nation, this time by approving an increase in the cost of prescription drugs, as The News reported on Friday.
The federal cabinet has authorized raising the Maximum Retail Prices (MRPs) of at least 146 medications under the hardship category, as per the Ministry of National Health Services’ (NHS) suggestion.
The cabinet endorsed the summary that the NHS had prepared in light of the suggestions made by the Drug Pricing Committee of the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) at a meeting presided over by Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar in Islamabad.
The federal cabinet authorized a price increase for 146 medications, including some crucial antibiotics, anti-epileptic and anti-psychotic medications, insulin, and other necessary medications, despite the NHS’s recommendation that 262 medications be made more expensive under the hardship category.
The sources predicted that the cost of these 146 medications will rise by 25% to 125%. It is important to note that in February 2023, 70 pharmaceutical companies requested a price rise for 262 medications that fall under the hardship category in a letter to the PDM administration.
The acute lack of vital medications in the nation is a result of the caretaker government’s reluctance to raise the costs of these 262 medications, which comprise both domestically produced and imported medications.
