ISLAMABAD: While the caretaker government removed the cap on maximum retail prices (MRPs) of non-essential drugs, Pakistan Young Pharmacist Association (PYPA) has called upon Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to review the decision as it will lead to further increase in medicine prices.

For the last many decades, there was a cap on MRPs due to which pharmaceutical companies were bound to keep the prices equal or lower than the prices approved by the federal cabinet. They had to apply to the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Drap) for any increase in the prices. Drap used to send the request to the federal cabinet for approval.

However, the caretaker cabinet delinked the prices of non-essential drugs with MRPs and allowed pharmaceutical companies to fix the prices on their own. The health ministry had claimed that the decision was made to promote competition among companies and that it will reduce prices of non-essential medicines.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has issued a list of essential medicines according to which there are over 350 essential molecules in Pakistan. Other medicines which mostly include vitamins, neutraceutricals, calcium and drugs for rare diseases are called non-essential. Over the years, pharmaceutical companies have been demanding that the cap on MRPs should be removed from all medicines. PYPA General Secretary Dr Furqan Ibrahim in the letter stated that the decision to decontrol medicine prices would directly affect 250 million people of Pakistan.

Decision taken by caretaker govt leads to further increase in medicine prices, says pharmacists’ body

“Once removing control on medicine prices was proposed by then finance minister Shaukat Aziz in March 2002, but PYPA informed the then president Pervez Musharraf that market forces cannot determine medicine prices in Pakistan,” he said.

“In purchasing medicines, there are three different persons involved. They are client (doctor), customer (attendant of patients) and consumer (patient). Unfortunately, 99pc doctors are not prescribing medicines and diagnostic tests on the basis of real disease. Rather prescription is based on the volume of bribe paid by pharmaceutical companies and diagnostic laboratories to doctors which is a homicidal crime,” he said.

Dr. Ibrahim alleged that doctors always welcomed the increase in medicine prices because it also increased their cuts.

“Usually, doctors say to relatives of a poor patient that if you would not arrange certain medicine till night your beloved relative would die and I will not be responsible for his/her death. Pharmaceutical companies are profit making organisations and they don’t believe in charity,” he alleged.

He asked that how one can assume that pharma companies would reduce their profits if they would be allowed to fix any price.

He said fact was that the pharma companies were already allowed to fix any price lower then MRP so what was the logic behind that the removal of cap will reduce prices.

“Moreover, removing the control on medicine prices and registration of banned medicines is extreme violation of constitutional guarantees afforded to every citizen and a grave violation of Drugs Act 1976 and 2012,” the letter added.

An official of the health ministry, requesting anonymity, said that it was the first step in which prices of non-essential medicines were being decontrolled. He claimed that efforts were going on to decontrol the prices of essential medicines as well.

“We have been hearing that initially a number of essential molecules will be reduced and finally the whole list will be withdrawn,” he claimed.

A senior officer of Drap added that prices of essential medicines were already controlled and MRP was intact on them.

“We have only removed the cap on MRPs of non-essential medicines with an intention that the prices will be decreased. If prices are not decreased, we can move another summery to the federal cabinet to impose the cap again. Moreover, we have over 350 essential molecules compared to those in India and Bangladesh where half of molecules are included in essential medicines list,” he said.

Published in Dawn, March 25th, 2024