After an increase in prices of medicines as announced by the Drug Prices Regulatory Authority, some of the retailers have increased the prices of the medicines while some of them have not yet increased them saying that they will revise prices after getting price list from the wholesalers, Business Recorder observed here on Wednesday.
A visit to different medicine outlets in the capital city revealed that some of the retailers on existing drug stocks have passed on the impact to end consumers while some are waiting for the price list issued by the wholesalers and suppliers. Drug Regulatory Authority Pakistan (DRAP) on July 26 issued a notification to increase the medicine prices after 15 years. According to Secretary Ministry of National Health Services (NHS) Ayub Sheikh, the increase in medicine prices is linked with the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
In the past, medicine prices were increased according to a uniform formula and since 2001 price increase was banned due to which a majority of local manufacturers could not increase price, except for a few of them who found it difficult to run their businesses without doing this.
A senior official of the DRAP said that some of multinational companies knocked the court doors time and time again and sought stay orders after increasing the prices of the medicines they produce. In November 2013, the DRAP increased medicine prices by 15pc, but withdrew the notification following the Prime Minister's orders. In 2013 some of the pharmaceutical companies also sought a stay order against this and continued to sell medicines at higher rates. Other companies also obtained stay orders in the current year and increased their prices.
An NHS official, who requested not to be named, said multinational companies have increased prices across the board as a result those companies also benefited which did not file a stay order case. "According to the new policy, the prices of scheduled drugs, which are over 300 molecules and are also called life saving drugs, and non-scheduled drugs will be increased by 50pc and 70pc of the CPI respectively. The prices of threshold drugs, or those which cost less than Rs 3 per tablets, will be increased by 100pc of the CPI," he said.
However, the NHS secretary said the government has accounted the CPI as 2.8pc so that scheduled drugs, which make up 55pc of the market, will have their prices increase by 1.43pc. "The price of non-scheduled drugs, which consist of 1,000 molecules and cover 45pc of the market, have been increased by 2pc while the prices of threshold drugs have been increased by 2.86pc," Mr Sheikh said. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has expressed his resentment over the increase in prices of medicines and has sought a detailed report from the NHS ministry.
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