Markets hit by shortage of life-saving drugs, antibiotics

The shortage of life-saving drugs, antibiotics and other medicines used to treat flu, fever, cold and coughs persist in the market with significant increase in prices, revealed a survey conducted by Business Recorder. Traders in different markets of the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad said that with the advent of winter, another wave of medicine shortages with increase in prices is fast approaching.
The main reason for the shortage was attributed to increase in input cost and ephedrine quota allotment scam. Chairman Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers' Association (PPMA) Mohammad Asad told Business Recorder that many manufacturers deliberately hesitate to lift the allotted ephedrine quota as a result of the ephedrine scam, which brought down the production of many lifesaving and other drugs, creating a supply-demand gap as well as increasing their prices. Giving another reason for the increase in medicine prices, Asad said that some pharmaceutical companies have taken stay orders and the matter is sub- judice in the court.
Sources in the pharmaceutical industry said that the ephedrine quota, which was usually allocated in January has this year been allocated in August and September hence the production of drugs has been delayed. The pharmaceutical companies significantly increased the prices of most lifesaving drugs during the last few months without government consent, besides creating a shortage, with antibiotics and painkillers not available in the market.
Soon after the ephedrine scandal, markets witnessed shortage of medicines like thyroxin tablet, vancocin injection, cardarone, inderal, benadryl, xanax, lexotanil, ativan, betnesol N-drops, polyfax, hydryllin DM and arinac. Similarly lifesaving drugs which are short in the markets include aminessn used for bones/spinal cord, cofcol syrup used for cough, dormicum tablets used for sleeping, loftyl for the treatment of epilepsy, corex D syrup for the treatment of cough loprin tablet 75mg, arinac tablet and syrup used as anti-allergic medicine, mucaine syrup, singluair used by asthmatic patients and klaracid, an important antibiotic medicine.
Patients in the twin cities of Rawalpindi/Islamabad are running from post to pillar for these medicines. The prices of life saving drugs and other essential medicines registered a substantial increase during the last few months: Disprin was previously available at Rs 7, is now available at Rs 10. Similarly, the price of peditral ORS increased from Rs 9 to Rs 27, hydraline syrup from Rs 30 to Rs 59, pulmonol syrup from Rs 39 to Rs 65, vermox syrup from Rs 30 to Rs 40, panadol tablet from Rs 7 to Rs 9, corex D syrup from Rs 28 to Rs 40 and loprin tablet 75mg from Rs 30 to Rs 33.