Federal Minister Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan has claimed that the main reason behind the shortage of life-saving drugs in Pakistan is the delay in release of ephedrine quota to the medicine companies during the current calendar year.
Addressing a press briefing here on Friday, the Federal Minister said the establishment of an autonomous Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Drap) was the key to regulate the manufacture, import, storage, distribution, sale and advertisement of therapeutic goods which included pharmaceutical drugs, alternative or traditional medicines, biological and medical devices. Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers' Association (PPMA) Chairman Jawed Akhai was also present on the occasion.
She said the process of enactment of the Drap Act started on April 30, when the Drap Ordinance was tabled in the National Assembly of Pakistan as a Government Bill. Afterwards, this Bill was referred to the Standing Committees on National Regulations and Services. She said that after the establishment of the Ministry of National Regulations and Services, it was found that there were almost 14,000 pending cases of registration of medicine products and companies. To resolve the issue, the Ministry established a 'Registration Board' which after formulating certain parameters, started issuance of licenses to those pending registration cases that fulfilled the laid down criteria. The Federal Minister said that after the signing of the Drap Act 2012 by the President Asif Ali Zardari on November 12, 2012 the Authority would be functional. The Drap Act aims at protecting the interest of the patients, the pharmaceutical industry and the officials working in the Authority. Also not a single employee of the devolved Drug Control Organisation of Ministry of Health has been laid off; their salaries and retirement benefits have been ensured by the Federal Government in the Act. "We want to establish a mechanism of 'formula registration' rather than the 'product registration', the Federal Minister added.
To a question asked by this scribe, the Minister said it was true that after granting MFN status to India, the import of medicines from the neighbouring country would start, but the Ministry of National Regulations and Services was discussing with the Ministry of Commerce to discourage the import of the medicines from India which would be sold at almost the same rates as those manufactured by our pharmaceutical industry. She said that after establishment of Drap, a drug pricing policy would be formulated at immediate basis. "Now we are facing the issue related to the high input price used in the manufacture of medicines and on the other hand, we do not want to increase the retail prices of drugs that would be economic burden on poor masses.