PTI ‘incompetence’ led to 262pc hike in drug prices

LAHORE: Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif has slammed the government’s approval for raising the price of medicines — with some medicines seeing a hike as high as 262 per cent — and said it was the result of the government’s “incompetence”.

In a tweet on Thursday, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president chalked up the price hike to “incompetence, malice and corruption, which unfortunately, the people are paying for on a daily basis”.

Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) Moula Bukhsh Chandio also called on the federal government to reverse the “cruel decision”.

His comments came as the federal government approved a hike in the prices of almost 100 local and imported medicines in Pakistan, a notification said on Thursday read, with Prime Minister Imran Khan’s aide on health saying it was necessary to ensure the drugs were “affordable for everyone”.

According to the notification, the prices of some 94 medicines were jacked up by at least 9 per cent and as much as 262 per cent, Geo News reported.

Drugs that became costlier included those used to treat fever, headache, heart diseases, malaria, diabetes, sore throat, flu, abdominal and stomach aches, skin diseases, postpartum issues, and eye, ear, tooth, mouth, and blood infections, as well as certain antibiotics.

The notification added that pharmaceutical companies would not be allowed to raise prices further until June 2021.