Should a state exist if it can’t provide health cover, education, asks SC

How can a poor man buy expensive medicines if he can’t arrange a square meal?
SC wants low-priced medicines for Hepatitis C, pneumonia

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Monday asked if there was any justification for a state to exist if it couldn’t provide basic facilities like healthcare and education to its people. The observation came from Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan during the hearing of a suo moto case concerning the death of a number of patients from pneumonia and Hepatitis C in the country.

The court took notice of the two dreadful diseases and observed that their treatment cost a fortune and was out of the reach of poor patients.“How can a poor man afford to buy expensive medicines if he can’t arrange a square meal to keep his body and soul together,” he asked.

Justice Ejaz observed that hepatitis patients could not get proper treatment as low-priced medicines were not available in the market.“There’re many poor patients of Hepatitis C who can hardly  afford a square meal. They have to mortgage their property for purchasing costly medicines, as cheap medicines are not available in the market,” he remarked.

The court sought a brief statement from the Federation over a plea filed by the Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Association (PPMA) through its counsel Munir A Malik, stating that its petition was pending with the Sindh High Court (SHC) wherein it was requested to increase the price of the tablet Sofosbuvire (400 mg) up to Rs26,600. Deputy Attorney General Sajid Ilyas Bhatti to file a concise statement on the plea of the association within two weeks.

The court recalled that a pharmaceutical company had filed an application for registration of a low-priced drug for Hepatitis-C.  The court asked Muhammad Usman, Chief Executive Officer of Everest Pharmaceuticals, as to why he was not manufacturing the said medicine.

Usman informed the court that right from October 5, 2015 drug Sofosbuvir and Sofosbuvir Lidepasvir (400mg) had been registered while an application for registration of Declatasavir and Semipravir with prices of with Rs35 and Rs75 respectively was pending with the Drug Regulatory Authority.

He said the Drug Regulatory Authority in its statement before the Lahore High Court submitted that it had registered the said drug (of Everest Pharmaceuticals). The court asked if the drug was registered then why the company was not manufacturing it.

Usman told the court that different tactics were being used by the Drug Regulatory Authority like putting conditions on the clinical trial of the drug. The court asked as to why the company was reluctant to conduct the clinical trial of the drug. 

Usman replied that the clinical trial of the said medicine had been conducted by two medical centers in Pakistan and India. He said the reports of these centers had certified that the medicine was better than the one manufactured by the US.

Meanwhile, the court adjourned the hearing for two weeks and sought a concise statement from the federation. On November 27, 2015, the chief justice took notice of death of children caused by pneumonia and diarrhea due to inattention of the high-ups.

The chief justice took notice on an application of Sheraz Mehmood Qureshi, a resident of Mansehra, enclosing two columns of an Urdu daily and issued notices to the health secretaries of all the four provinces.

One of the columns contained details, facts and figures of deaths caused by pneumonia and diarrhea due to lack of attention by the high-ups on this serious issue.  According to the column, in year 2014 alone 144,000 children died of pneumonia and diarrhea. The second column reported that Hepatitis-C and had spread in the country due to lack of sanitation and other issues.