ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PPMA) Chairman Arshad Mahmood on Wednesday said Pakistan would become Nigeria if ease of business was not ensured in the pharmaceutical sector, fearing that the country would be left with no choice but to import medicines worth $20 billion every year.

“The foreign exchange starved Pakistan should be eyeing on the export of pharmaceutical products which is an $1,800 billion industry. Even if we capture the market of Africa, which is an $86 billion market, we would be able to bridge the gap between imports and exports of the country. If ease of business would not be ensured, investments will be shifted from Pakistan to Bangladesh, China, Iran and other countries,” he said while speaking to participants at an international conference on pharma and healthcare.

Mr Mahmood said once Nigeria used to manufacture medicines but with the passage of time, it implemented conditions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and increased taxes and now it was importing 100pc of its medicines.

“On Wednesday morning, I was shocked to see in a newspaper that the per unit cost of the pharma sector is going to be increased by Rs32 due to which, each unit of electricity will be Rs93. Currently, the per month bill of my factory goes over Rs4 million, out of which electricity charges remain around Rs1.8 million and the rest are all taxes,” he said, adding Pakistan can export medicines to a number of countries of Africa and some countries of Asia including Myanmar, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.

“A number of companies have been manufacturing medicines for people of Pakistan but when they get orders to export medicines to other countries, the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Drap) refuses to issue them a letter of good manufacturing practices (GMP) and insists on carrying out another inspection of the factory. The letter is mandatory to export medicines,” Mr Mahmood said.

“It is unfortunate that Drap allows companies to sell medicines to people of Pakistan but does not allow exporting the same medicine to other countries. That is why our exports are worth $269 million. On the other hand, India has been exporting medicines worth of $24 billion per annum. The local industry has been providing medicines worth $5 billion to people of Pakistan and if manufacturing would be stopped due to high cost of production, Pakistan will have to import medicines worth of $20 billion because in that case, foreign countries/companies will provide medicines on their cost and conditions,” he said.

“We cannot compete with international/foreign companies by importing raw material. The business community has been thinking about shifting investments abroad because over here, policies are made without taking the stakeholders onboard. The government needs to take steps for industrialisation rather than depending on remittances of overseas Pakistanis,” he added.

During a panel discussion, member of the PPMA Central Executive Committee Usman Shaukat said it was time to enforce an export emergency in Pakistan to tackle the current economic crisis and pharmaceuticals can play a vital role in earning precious foreign exchange for Pakistan.

“A pharma export council needs to be set up immediately to enhance the exports of pharmaceuticals which has immense potential. The stakeholders such as Drap and Ministry of Commerce have already principally agreed to formulate the pharma export council and the industry requests the process to be expedited in order to facilitate exports,” he added.

It was high time that Pakistan pharmaceutical products reach developed markets such as the United States and Europe.

Drap Chief Executive Officer Dr Asim Rauf, who also attended the conference, said that all possible steps would be taken to facilitate the pharmaceutical sector and ensure increase in export of medicines from Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, December 22nd, 2022