Pakistan sees shortage of some medicines as LC issue persists

Despite being classified as a priority sector for imports by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the pharmaceutical industry remains perturbed over its inability to import raw material as banks are not opening letters of credit (LCs) because of dollar-shortage.

Former Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PPMA) chairman Mansoor Dilawar told Business Recorder that Pakistan is currently facing a shortage of medical products. This has been confirmed by pharmacists as well.

“One in every four medicines is currently not available across the board,” Abdul Khaliq, a medical store owner in Hyderabad, told Business Recorder. “There are many drugs such as anti-malarial medicines and those used to treat fever that are short in the market.

“Many medicines are being sold for double their retail price in the black market.”

Acute shortage of medicines on the cards

Umair Hanif, another salesperson at a medical store in Karachi, said the official rates of many medicines have risen by 5-15% and many of these are still unavailable in the market.

Meanwhile, Dilawar warned the situation may aggravate if the government failed to address and resolve the issues of the industry.

Shortage of medicines affecting health sector

“Medicines for babies, heart diseases, blood pressure, diabetes, epilepsy and asthma are short in the market. If this situation persists, people might not be able to find many essential medicines in February,” Dilawar said.

He requested the government to set aside nearly $400 million to enable the medical industry to continue importing raw material. He considered this action necessary to avert a healthcare crisis in Pakistan.

He also urged the government to allow the industry to increase medicine prices by 38% since the cost components have increased significantly due to fluctuation in exchange rate and increase in gas and electricity tariffs.

In November last year, another former PPMA chairman Zahid Saeed claimed that the industry was moving towards disaster as around 150 to 200 factories had shut down.

Meanwhile, Ayesha T. Haq, Executive Director at Pakistan Pharma Bureau, said in November last year that foreign pharmaceutical companies in Pakistan had reduced from 48 to just 22 in around 18 years. Successive governments’ unpredictable, inconsistent and uncertain policies have been the reasons.

Fujifilm Pakistan CEO Syed Haider Ali Naqvi had said earlier that the segment, where his company specialises, has been unable to open LCs as per its usual banking cycle and this development might trigger a severe shortage of X-ray, CT and MRI films for the first time in the country’s history.