KARACHI:
Although the well-being of a loved one with a chronic illness is a priority for almost every family, those faced with soaring drug prices and limited financial resources often must choose between purchasing a box of anticoagulants and a bag of flour.
One such family was that of Ghulam Rasool, a patient suffering from heart disease and diabetes. “After the recent rise in drug prices, we can no longer afford the treatment doses prescribed by doctors. More than half of my salary would be spent on purchasing my medications, making it difficult for me to meet the demands. daily needs of the house. Therefore, I am forced to stop my medicines, putting my life at risk,” regretted Rasool, who asked the government to take steps to reduce the prices of life-saving medicines. .
Similarly, Javed, a hypertension patient, revealed that he had been taking blood pressure medication for the past year. “The price of this medicine has increased by Rs 300. Now, instead of taking a daily dose, I am using it every other day, due to which my blood pressure is not properly controlled. This has had serious impact on my daily routine and office work,” lamented Javed.
Zubair Wahab, a Karachi-based drug wholesaler, confirmed that allegations of an unexpected increase in drug prices were in fact true. “Over the past year, prices of medicines have increased every 15 days by 300 to 400 rupees, while prices of other medicines have increased significantly, by 50 to 75 percent.
Due to the cold weather, the prices of medicines used for cold, flu, fever and allergies have continued to rise due to increased demand,” Wahab said.
According to Asim Jameel Siddiqui, general secretary of the Pakistan Association of Chemists and Drugs, the World Health Organization (WHO) has released a list of 900 drugs, out of which 400 formulations are vital or essential, while the 500 formulations remaining are not. -essential.
“After the liberalization of prices of non-essential medicines, the prices of non-essential medicines have increased, while an annual increase of seven percent is allowed for essential medicines. In this case, the shortage of various medicines and vaccines continues while their prices Medicines sold by multinational pharmaceutical companies cost more than those produced locally It is true that medicines are becoming out of reach of ordinary patients, even if there is no tax on drug sales. allopathic. The goods and services tax. (GST) has been imposed on alternative medicines from 2024,” Siddiqui informed.
Siddique further revealed that the price of pheniramine maleate injection used to treat allergies increased from Rs 432 in April 2024 to Rs 1,500 in August 2024. Similarly, the price of a medicine used as a multivitamin, which cost Rs 224 in April 2024, had increased. to Rs351 in October 2024.
Also, prochlorperazine maleate, a medicine used to treat vomiting, was priced at Rs 312 in February 2024, which increased to Rs 900 in September 2024. Similarly, the price of a cough syrup increased from Rs89 to Rs130. Similarly, the price of miconazole gel used for ulcers has increased from Rs215 to Rs588.
Prices of most medications are reported to have increased three times in the past year, forcing low-income patients to reduce their medication doses.
