ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Friday directed the authorities concerned to withdraw the recent increase in medicine prices immediately, terming it as unacceptable.
In a statement‚ the prime minister said that increase in the prices of medicines is not acceptable and it should be withdrawn immediately.
The federal ministry of health on Thursday had notified a 2 to 15 per cent hike in prices of around 30,000 medicines of varied nature with immediate effect. However, the prices of life-saving drugs were not increased.
The sources said that the pharmaceutical firms had demanded the hike in the prices of various categories of medicines.
The federal secretary Imtiaz Inayat Elahi had said that the hike had been given on a limited number of medicines and it would have not affected prices of 22 lifesaving drugs – medications for hepatitis, ulcer, cancer, blood pressure, diabetes, asthma, kidney and heart related ailments, and antibiotics.
The federal secretary had further said that the pharmaceutical sector had been demanding a 97 per cent increase, since it was struggling to absorb a 100 per cent surge in production costs.
However, health experts had termed the move extremely unfair, saying it would lift drug prices up by 15 per cent in a one go.
