ISLAMABAD              -         Pakistan Young Pharmacist Association (PYPA) has written a letter to heads of the state institutions and investigation departments expressing concerns that a new price hike of medicines is expected in the month of July.

The letter written by Secretary General YPA Furqan Ibrahim alleged that price hike would be made to benefit the 50 big pharmaceutical companies functional in the country. 

PYPA said that a 50 percent price hike is expected if the big pharma companies create an artificial shortage of medicines in the market claiming that if medicine prices were not increased there would be severe shortage of medicines in Pakistan.  The Prime Minister Imran Khan had appointed Dr.ZafarMirza as SAPM on Health, after the termination of former federal minister for NHS AmerKayani on alleged corruption of illegal medicine price increase up to 400 per cent.  Prime Minister Imran Khan has ordered the medicine prices within 72 hours.

PYPA said that DRAP has also enlisted a number of medical devices from India, without fixing prices. Moreover, the summary did not contain the value of imported medicines from India.

The PYPA urged to reduce medicine prices to the level of 1st November 2013, and recover entire looted money and immediately take over the entire record of import, registration and pricing of DRAP.

Meanwhile, President Pakistan Drugs Lawyers Forum (PDLF) Noor Meher said that the prices of medicines have increased six times in the last 4 months and SAPM on NHS Dr.ZafarMirza did not control the monopoly of multinational pharma industry.

He also said that during SAPM Dr.ZafarMirza tenure around 2 million masks were allegedly smuggled from the country when they were required in the country.

DRAP had allowed export of personal protection equipment (PPEs) worth over Rs2.98 million including 10,000 N-95 masks despite banning its trade from the country in February.

DRAP allowed four companies to export PPEs to different regions of China and titled it a ‘donation.’

Meanwhile, DRAP head AsimRauf had said that restriction on export of PPEs existed and export was allowed under special request from China.

DRAP on January 30th had imposed a restriction on export of all kinds of PPEs urging strict action against violators. The letter issued by DRAP on 30th January asked all the federal/provincial inspectors of drugs to visit the importers/distributors dealing with articles used as personal protective equipment to cater the emergent coronavirus infection, in their respective areas of jurisdiction.

However, on February 8th 2020, DRAP official Dr.Ghazafar Ali Khan issued four no objection certificates allowing four companies to export PPEs required for protection of coronavirus (COVID-19).

DRAP allowed export of 2,980,300 items which include different kinds of masks including N-95, medical protective clothing and temporary gloves.