ISLAMABAD, April 2: The government has finalized a list of life-saving drugs for exemption from 15 per cent general sales tax, health director-general Rear Admiral Muhammad Aslam told Dawn on Tuesday.

The list, containing 315 life-saving drugs, would be submitted to the finance ministry from where it would be forwarded to the central board of revenue (CBR) for final approval.

A source confided to Dawn that there was every likelihood that the list would be taken up during the cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

President Gen Pervez Musharraf had constituted last week an inter-ministerial meeting to finalize a list of the life-saving medicines.

In the wake of strong reaction from the consumers, local pharmaceutical manufacturers and civil society organizations, over the imposition of 15 per cent GST on drugs, the President had ordered exemption of the life-saving drugs from GST and had ordered the ministry to review the drug prices.

However, the decision could not generate expected appreciation as different civil society organizations demanded of the government not to confuse the people by exempting only the life-saving drugs, as the list of which was very short and ambiguous.

According to the Network for Consumer Protection, an NGO working for consumer rights, the list of essential drugs contain 470 medicines while that of the life-saving was yet to be determined.

Meanwhile a delegation, comprising local as well as multinational pharmaceutical manufacturers, met senior officials of the health ministry on Tuesday to reiterate their demand for immediate withdrawal of 15 per cent GST on medicines.

The government team consisted of health secretary Ejaz Rahim and director-general Rear Admiral Mohammad Aslam while the Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association, a group of local manufacturers, was represented by the PPMA chairman Dr Khalid Javaid, the association’s former chief Yasin Malik and vice-chairman Mohammad Abdullah Feroz.

The source said that the PPMA team briefed the government team about different anomalies surfaced with the exemption of 15pc GST on life-saving drugs, specially when the public sector hospitals have also been exempted from the cess.

The meeting was told that different private contractors also provide medicines to public hospitals after purchasing medicines from the market. Provision of such medicines to the hospitals means that the hospitals have also paid the tax.

The PPMA delegation also emphasized the government to withdraw different taxes on raw materials imported for medicines as most of them were used in the preparation of life-saving as well as essential drugs. Exemption of the life-saving drugs from the GST would thus create chaos in the country.

The meeting also appointed a separate committee to meet fortnightly and review registration of different medicines.

Issues relating to leader price, rationalization and deregulation of the drug prices were also discussed.