“Drugs unavailable in the market due to unrealistic prices, currently being sold through unregulated channels at exponentially high prices to be made available locally”, announces Federal Cabinet.
In response to long-term shortages of some key or lifesaving medicines, the Federal Cabinet on Tuesday allowed rationalizing prices of drugs that had been reported to be in short supply due to unrealistically low prices; approved for drugs in the “hardship category”
The list of drugs whose prices have been allowed to increase includes medicines such as furosemide injections (for emergency use in high blood pressure), acetazolamide tablets (for glaucoma), hydralazine tablets (for lowering blood pressure), anti-rabies vaccine, amongst others.
As an example, the price of acetazolamide tablets has been fixed at Rs. 60.45 for a pack of 30 tablets for over a decade, despite increases in the cost of the raw material needed to produce this drug in the international market.
The decision to allow necessary increases in the prices of such drugs will enable viable manufacture and ready availability of these essential medications to the public, instead of forcing people to purchase medicines of dubious quality at exorbitant black-market prices.
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