PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has directed the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan to produce the minutes of its last year meeting on the new drug pricing policy that was followed by an increase in the prices of around 100 medicines.

A bench consisting of Chief Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan and Justice Mohammad Naeem Anwar also directed Drap director (pricing) Amanullah and deputy attorney general Mohammad Asghar Kundi to explore the possibility of revising that policy within a fortnight to address the people’s grievances.

It also wondered how the policy was made without taking input from the people.

The bench was hearing two petitions related to health issues.

One was contempt petition filed by lawyer Saifullah Muhib Kakakhel seeking action against the chief executive of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Care Commission and high-ups of the health department over failure to ensure uniformity in the rates of health services by laboratories and clinics despite the court’s orders.

Asks Drap to see if policy revision possible to address complaints

The other petition was filed by a Kohat resident, Mohammadullah Khan, against the alleged illegal kidney transplantation performed on his uncle, Haji Habib Khan, by a group of people, including some doctors, for Rs2.55 million.

The patient had died within two days of the surgery.

Lawyer for the petitioner Malik Ajmal Khan requested the court to direct the FIA and HCC to take legal action against all those involved in the occurrence, and also to conduct a high-level inquiry against all those who were involved in this illegal organ trade. The bench has now fixed Mar 10 for next hearing.

Additional advocate general Syed Sikandar Hayat Shah appeared for the provincial government, while lawyers Abdur Rauf Rohaila and Shakeel Khan Ahmadkhel represented the Drap and HCC, respectively.

Federal Investigation Agency deputy director (law) Abdur Rehman and sub-inspector Irfanullah also turned up in the hearing.

The Drap director (pricing) told the bench that a policy had been formulated wherein the input of the pharmaceutical companies and that of chemists and drugs associations had been taken.

When the court inquired if the input was taken from the general public during the policy’s formulation, he replied in negative.

“We wonder in what manner the policy has been made without the input of the people, who face price hike in various types of medicines, including lifesaving ones, and have to bear the ultimate financial brunt,” it observed.

The bench also accepted an application of the Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association for its inclusion in the case as a respondent.

FAKE DOCTORS ISSUE: The bench also directed the FIA officials to crack down on fake doctors in the merged tribal districts and produce a progress report before the next hearing.

It observed that fake doctors had freely been conducting surgeries in the region.

About the issue of illegal transplantation of human organs and the practice of fake doctors across the province, FIA official Abdur Rehman submitted a report.

He said pursuant to an earlier order of the court, FIRs had been registered against fake doctors and even their clinics had been closed.

Advocate Saifullah Muhib said in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic, the judgment of the high court delivered on Nov 13, 2019, had assumed importance as the HCC and health department had so far not complied with it as far as the fixation of rates for different health services and bringing uniformity in rates of diagnostic tests were concerned.

Published in Dawn, February 9th, 2021