Govt Turns Down Over 300% Hike in Drug Prices
By Newztodays Team
The caretaker government has turned down a proposal for an over 300% hike in drug prices.
The caretaker government in a recent meeting chaired by the caretaker prime minister had taken up the matter of hiking the prices of drugs.
The drugs pricing committee (PDC) had recommended over 300 percent increase in 262 drug prices apparently to benefit the pharmaceutical industry.
The participants of the meetings had drawn the attention of the prime minister towards the over 300 percent proposed hike in prices of drugs that would hit the consumers badly.
These prices relate to an increase in Maximum Retail Prices (MRPs) of 262 drugs under the hardship category as recommended by the Drugs Pricing Committee (DPC) in the context of a pending case.
It was informed that the court had ordered to place the matter before the Cabinet or its consideration.
The Ministry for National Health Services, Regulation & Coordination (NHSR&C) briefed that the federal government was empowered to fix the price of any drug and that the Ministry of NHSR&C had been ensuring due diligence per the Drug Pricing Policy, 2018.
Health Ministry explained that in its response before the Court, the Ministry had delineated that any unilateral increase in prices of 262 drugs with a price hike of up to 300% would inflict serious hardship on the masses, who were already suffering from the impact of high levels of inflation.
It was further explained that the ECC in its meeting held on 15 November, 2023 had directed the Ministry to conduct a robust technical and financial analysis of the proposal for an increase in drug prices by the pharmaceutical industry.ECC Fixes Prices of 49 New Drugs
The Ministry said that the analysis so conducted was submitted to the ECC, but that was not approved by the ECC in its meeting held on 23 November 2023.
On a query, the Ministry explained that the demand for an increase in the prices of drugs by the pharmaceutical industry was possibly due to a decrease in their profit margins resulting from higher prices of imported raw materials.
It was suggested that an assessment should be conducted by some independent experts, to which the Ministry responded that they had already engaged independent consultants for the purpose.
