KARACHI, Oct 24: The Sindh government wants marketing and sale of medicines under their generic names to check drug prices.

This was stated by Sindh Health Minister Syed Sardar Ahmed while talking to a World Bank mission on health on Wednesday.

Apprising the team about the steps taken to improve the health delivery system, Mr Ahmed said he had forwarded a report about drug pricing to the federal government. “Keeping in view the increasing grievances of people about the prices of drugs, I have requested the federal government to move at the earliest for the marketing and sale of medicines in accordance with their generic names, instead of brand names,” the minister was quoted as having said this at the meeting.

It is worth noting that registration of drugs and fixation of their prices is the subject of the federal government under the Drugs Act 1976.

Mr Ahmed said he had also ordered evaluation of the ongoing and some recently completed schemes at the provincial government hospitals and healthcare facilities by a third party. He also sought suggestions to improve coordination among ongoing health projects in order to minimise the overlap of activities.

Dr Benjamin Loevisohn of WB mission, a public health specialist, briefed the minister on a ‘health reforms paper’.