Govt forming policy to control medicine prices, SC told

ISLAMABAD: Deputy Attorney General Sajid Ilyas Bhatti Thursday informed the Supreme Court that the ministry of health and Drug Control Authority (DRA) was working to form a policy to control the quality and price of medicines.

The two-member bench of the apex court comprising Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain heard the suo motu case. During the course of proceeding, the court was informed that three applications of adjournment were filed by the respondent and the court had to decide that whether it would hear the case in absence of respondents.

The deputy attorney general told the court that it was not proper to hear the case in absence of three respondents as it was a matter of public interest. The chief justice remarked that the sale of substandard medicine was continuing without any check. The open ended escalation of prices of medicine creates hurdles for treatment of poor, he added. Later, the case was adjourned for an indefinite period.