PMA laments severe shortage of life-saving drugs

LAHORE:Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) Lahore office-bearers in a statement issued here on Monday criticised the government over severe shortage of the anesthetic drugs in public hospitals of the province.

PMA Lahore president Dr Ashraf Nizami denouncing the recent 21 percent increase in the drugs as price adjustment observed that Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) has failed to check the prices of the drugs.

He said the sky rocketing prices of medicines and persistent shortage of life-saving drugs in the market created by mafia is playing havoc with the lives of poor patients. Dr Shahid Malik informed that drug mafia totally controlled the public sector hospitals and they are creating artificial shortage of the drugs just to grab the profit. He said pharmaceutical companies in connivance with officials are getting huge profit without any check. They demanded the government to take timely and effective measures to save the precious lives of the hapless patients and check irregularities of DRAP and drug pricing mechanism in the larger interest of the masses.