ISLAMABAD: Declining to give any assurances regarding medicines price hike to the local and multinational pharmaceutical industry, federal finance minister Ishaq Dar Tuesday said the government will follow the recommendations of the policy board of Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) regarding “across the board” increase in the prices of drugs.
“The Policy Board of the DRAP is the appropriate forum to decide whether to increase the prices of medicines ‘across the board’ or not and the government will follow its recommendations. The meeting of DRAP’s policy board is scheduled on March 24, 2023 and the pharmaceutical industry should wait for its outcome”, Senator Ishaq Dar told CEOs of local and multinational pharmaceutical companies, who called on him today in Islamabad.
Presiding over a meeting of the committee constituted by the prime minister on the pharmaceutical industry’s issues at the finance division today, Ishaq Dar said government realizes the contribution of the pharmaceutical industry and assured the visiting chief executives of local and multinational pharmaceutical firms that recommendations of the DRAP policy board would be presented in the federal cabinet for approval.
Regarding the issue of hardship cases forwarded by the National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination (NHS,R&C) for an increase in the prices of 119 medicines, he said the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet would look into these cases in its next meeting and decide what is in favour of people as well as industry. He maintained that the present government is committed to resolving the operational issues being faced by various sectors of the economy including the pharmaceutical industry but added that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif does not wish to burden the common man. Government is determined and working hard to address the issues of the common man in spite of various economic challenges, he added.
The finance minister expressed the commitment of the government to provide essential drugs at affordable prices to common man which is their basic right and assured the pharmaceutical companies’ delegation of resolving their issues at the earliest. On the occasion, Senator Ishaq Dar directed the DRAP to present the demands and concerns of the pharmaceutical industry in the policy board of the DRAP and forward its recommendations to the committee for forwarding to the federal cabinet for approval and implementation.
The pharmaceutical companies’ delegation comprising Syed Farooq Bukhari, Chairman PPMA, CEO GSK Ms. Erum Shakir Rahim, CEO Ferozsons Osman Khalid Waheed, MD Abbott Anis Ahmed, CEO Sante Tauqeer ul Haq, Zahid Saeed former Chairman PPMA, Hamid Raza former chairman PPMA, Shahzad Akram, Vice President FPCCI, ED Pharma Bureau Ayesha Tammy Haq and others demanded 38.5 percent ‘across the board’ increase in the prices of medicines due to massive increase in cost of production because of rupee deprivation against dollar and other factors.
Chairman PPMA Syed Farooq Bukhari appreciated the government for resolving the issues of LCs and fixing the price of paracetamol products and sought price adjustments of all the drugs due to the massive increase in the cost of production because of the devaluation of the Pak rupee against the dollar, increase in the prices of medicines’ raw material as well as petrol and gas prices. Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Federal Minister for NHS,R&C Abdul Qadir Patel, SAPM on Finance Tariq Bajwa, SAPM on Revenue Tariq Mehmood Pasha, SAPM on Government Effectiveness Dr. Muhammad Jehanzeb Khan, Advisor to the PM on Establishment Ahad Khan Cheema, Chairman FBR and senior, CEO DRAP Asim Rauf and other senior officers also attended the meeting.
Earlier, the pharmaceutical companies’ CEOs and representatives also met Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of DRAP at his office and sought his support in getting a 38.5 percent across-the-board increase in the prices of all the medicines, saying in the current economic conditions, it was no more economically viable for them to continue the production of medicines at the existing Maximum Retail Prices (MRP) allowed to them by the DRAP.
PPMA North Chairman Arshad Mehmood at a press conference along with FPCCI Senior Vice President Khawaja Shahzeb Akram also urged the Chief Justice of Pakistan to take stock of the situation and take measures to ensure the availability of drugs to common people.
