ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, taking notice of backlog in the registration and price fixation of various drugs, ordered the Ministry of National Health Services (NHS) on Friday to present a roadmap within 24 hours with specified timelines for clearing the backlog.

He also directed for expanding the outreach of the PM’s National Health Programme (PMNHP) to all parts of the country to provide maximum relief to the poor segments of society.

In recent days, the prime minister has been getting briefings from different ministries, divisions and departments about their performances.

Health programme will be extended to all parts of the country

The NHS ministry has failed to address issues such as fixing prices of hepatitis medicine for the last four months and prices of cardiac stents too could not be fixed despite orders of the Supreme Court. The registration of 20 new medical colleges has also become a matter of tension between the ministry and Pakistan Medical and Dental Council. Moreover, the ministry, despite announcement, has failed to increase pictorial health warning on cigarette packets for almost three years.

According to an official statement, Mr Abbasi, during a meeting held at the PM Office, directed that comprehensive proposals should be placed before the cabinet and necessary legislation, if needed, should be put in place for addressing issues related to drugs.

He said that regulatory mechanism for registration of drugs and pricing policy should be simplified to help drugs manufacturers and to create a win-win situation for consumers as well as drugs producers and importers.

Briefing the prime minister, the minister for NHS, Saira Afzal Tarar, said that the government had undertaken major reforms, especially in the last two years in diverse areas, including introduction of a comprehensive drug pricing policy, launching of PMNHP, increase in coverage of children vaccinated under the Expanded Programme on Immunisation and significant reduction of polio cases in the country.

Mr Abbasi directed the ministry to work in coordination with provincial governments to expand the outreach of the programme.

Discussing issues concerning Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP), he observed that regulatory policies and framework should aim at facilitating international as well as local drugs manufacturers.

He said the government was endeavouring to put in place a congenial environment for the businesses to flourish and markets to grow. He observed that the regulators’ job was to protect consumers and facilitate the business community to the maximum possible extent.

NHS Director General of Health Dr Asad Hafeez told Dawn that the prime minister was quite satisfied with the PMNHP and immunisation campaign as its coverage had been increased by 15 to 20 per cent over last few years.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2017