March 27, 2002	Wednesday	Muharram 12, 1423

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BAJAUR, March 26: The imposition of 15 per cent general sales tax (GST) on medicines by the federal government has boosted the sale of the medicines being smuggled from India in the local markets.

As soon as the government imposed the tax, the prices of different medicines registered a sharp increase, forcing the locals to prefer the smuggled drugs to those being manufactured by either the local pharmaceutical or multi-national companies (MNCs) in Pakistan.

According to a survey, conducted by Dawn, chemists in the Bajaur Agency have been smuggling drugs from India since long.

They have made the drugs easily available at the drug stores of the area.

Although the smuggled drugs captured the markets ever since their smuggling began, the imposition of GST has increased their sale.

Due to a wide margin between the prices of medicines in Pakistan and India, it has now become difficult for the local pharmacists to convince the people to purchase the local medicines. It has become a compulsion of the chemists to sell the smuggled medicines.

A druggist said that there was no difference in the quality of drugs of Pakistani and Indian versions.

Poor patients could not afford expensive medicines manufactured in Pakistan, he said, asking whether the people had any option when they could buy a smuggled medicine for Rs10 while the same medicine cost Rs100 in Pakistan.

The comparison between some of the Indian and Pakistani medicines, especially manufactured by MNCs, showed that in some cases the price difference is of almost 1,000 per cent.

According to the survey, the price of a strip of 10 tablets of Zantac is Rs90 here while that of Indian version is Rs14. Similarly, 10 tablets of Ranitidin (150mg) can be bought for Rs40 in the area, but the one smuggled from India costs Rs6 only. Ciprofloxacin is available at Rs520 in Pakistan, whereas the smuggle version costs Rs21.

Diclofenac Sodium, a sort of analgesic, is on sale for Rs50 here and its Indian version costs three rupees only. Another important drug, Eneid capsules (Omeprazole  20mg), costs Rs140 in the agency, whereas its smuggled brand can be purchased for Rs10 only.

It has been learnt that most of the chemists have placed smuggled drugs in Pakistani packings to hoodwink drug inspectors.