Reason severe shortage of essential, life-saving Medicines? Tauqeer ul Haq Analysis
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Reason severe shortage of essential, life-saving Medicines? Tauqeer ul Haq Analysis
Reason severe shortage of essential, life-saving Medicines? Tauqeer ul Haq Analysis
Transcript
00:00 In this country, people suffering from diseases like cancer, TB, heart diseases and diabetes are fighting for medicines.
00:07 There are 262 medicines in the country that are currently in shortage and these are life-saving drugs.
00:13 What is this problem and why is it that the common people are going towards expensive and smuggled medicines to buy medicines for themselves?
00:23 We will talk about this.
00:24 Mr. Tauqeer ul Haq is with us. He is a former chairman of PPMA. Thank you very much for joining us.
00:31 Mr. Tauqeer, these 262 medicines are in the hardship category.
00:36 If you want to increase their price, you can do it immediately.
00:40 But according to my information, this matter has been in the cabinet since January 2023, but has not been solved yet.
00:51 Are current shortages linked to this?
00:54 You are absolutely right.
00:58 The preamble you just told is a fact that these 262 medicines are essential.
01:05 It contains TB, cancer medicines, insulin and many life-saving medicines.
01:14 In the hardship category, it was in the cabinet in January 2023, but it was still in the drab category.
01:22 And for the last 2-3 years, these 262 products have been collected.
01:27 And it is absolutely true that the way the devaluation has happened in Pakistan in the last 2 years,
01:33 and an unprecedented inflation has come, and because of which everything is increasing in price.
01:40 So, when you look at the price of electricity, gas, petrol, and the minimum wage,
01:47 which the government has increased, now for the pharmaceutical industry,
01:50 these are the medicines whose prices were already reasonable or low.
01:55 When their production costs and their approved prices increased,
01:58 then under the DRAB and the federal government's approved pricing policy of 2018,
02:05 these products have been applied in the hardship category.
02:08 And the way of doing this is that in the hardship cases,
02:11 a complete dossier has to be given as to what are the costs of packaging material, raw material, labour costs,
02:18 and everything is done, and it is a very comprehensive form, and we collect that dossier.
02:25 And if that dossier is not in line with the pricing policy,
02:29 then the board of DRAB, which is called the DPC, Drug Pricing Committee,
02:34 and the health officials of all four provinces are also included in it,
02:39 and the board decides that the dossier that has been collected is absolutely correct,
02:43 and it is also seen that the prices of these products have been done in the neighbouring countries, India and Bangladesh,
02:48 and that is also made a reference.
02:50 After doing all this, in January 2020, finally, DRAB sent these 262 hardship cases to the Cabinet.
02:58 Now DRAB is the institution of the federal government, and it has given this mandate to DRAB to decide this.
03:08 And now when it has gone from DRAB to the Cabinet,
03:11 then the simple task was that the pricing policy given by the government,
03:16 the mechanism given by the government, the price of these 262 products has been fixed,
03:22 and now the Cabinet has to only notify.
03:24 That notification was also notified, it was also going on in the previous government,
03:28 then the interim government came, now we are also behind,
03:32 then what is this in the ECC, there too they said that it is absolutely correct according to the pricing policy,
03:36 but I don't know what is the reason the government is not doing it.
03:39 But Dr. what is the hurdle?
03:42 Because the issue of two governments has come up, one is the previous government,
03:45 the hurdle was that maybe suddenly, because there are 262 people,
03:50 if their prices increase, then there will be a lot of noise, and the public will make noise,
03:55 but you see that when these medicines are not available,
03:58 and if you, I am representing the industry, you can ask any cardiologist,
04:03 ask a medical specialist, ask the medical community, ask a chemist,
04:07 go to the hospital and check that these medicines are not available,
04:10 and who has TB or cancer patient or how much diabetes has spread in Pakistan,
04:15 insulin is not available, or heparin, who has a heart attack,
04:20 he needs heparin immediately, or it is not available,
04:23 we have asked for it on hardship, 1285 rupees,
04:27 and 4000 or 3000 rupees smuggled is available, or it is not available.
04:31 So this is a very simple case, I don't know why the government is not looking,
04:35 I think the public is not being taken care of,
04:38 the public is being put on the responsibility of these 24 crore people,
04:45 so I think we are not able to understand why this is being delayed.
04:50 Right, so what is the solution at this time,
04:53 because the focus is on the caretaker set up, elections,
04:56 you know that the focus is on politics, and all the other work is on standstill.
05:01 What is the solution, Mr. Tawhir?
05:03 The solution is that, seeing the health crisis,
05:10 that this issue is so big and the patients are dying,
05:14 before the election, the government and the cabinet should
05:18 as an emergency situation, approve it immediately and notify it,
05:25 whereas ECC and all the relevant drafts, if you ask them,
05:30 they will say that we have made it since January.
05:33 So the hurdle is that the cabinet should approve it,
05:35 I am sorry I am cutting you short, Mr. Tawhir,
05:37 but if in case, for example, this does not happen,
05:40 and the government does not approve it before the elections,
05:43 which the cabinet has gone to for approval,
05:45 then what will be the impact on the patients?
05:48 The impact on the patients is that either they will not be able to be treated,
05:52 their lives are in danger, or they will take smuggled goods,
05:55 which is available in the market at a ten times higher price,
05:58 or God forbid, even if this mafia does not get the medicines,
06:04 then the mafia that makes the smuggled medicines gets very angry.
06:08 So the government should decide immediately,
06:11 its implications are very dangerous, this is a health crisis.
06:14 Now, with the focus of your program, I would like to say this,
06:18 in front of the government, I would like to say this,
06:21 that Pakistan's pharmaceutical industry is the only private sector,
06:25 on which the government controls the prices,
06:28 the market forces in the world decide,
06:31 in India and Bangladesh, except for essential drugs,
06:34 which in India is 476, and in Bangladesh it is even less,
06:37 apart from 137, everything is deregulated.
06:40 Now, let's say that this should be the case here too,
06:45 if it is not, then it is okay, if the government is controlling the price,
06:48 and according to their own policy, everything is decided,
06:54 and the government is not giving the price,
06:56 then what is the benefit of this kind of policy?
06:59 Or let's say that by doing this,
07:01 the pharmaceutical industry is flourishing somewhere else in the world.
07:04 Here, multinational companies have started going,
07:07 national companies have started reducing their workforce,
07:10 people are facing the issue of employment,
07:12 apart from this, look at the condition of the patients,
07:15 and then see that with this kind of policy,
07:18 the industry cannot even focus on exports,
07:22 when we will not get the prices,
07:25 and if we get the prices of new products late,
07:28 then look at India, it is exporting for 24 billion US dollars,
07:32 and we are exporting for 300 billion US dollars.
07:35 The government should see that,
07:37 first, the prices should be deregulated,
07:39 until the government thinks about it,
07:41 then at least, the policy that is given,
07:43 it should be implemented.
07:45 Thank you very much for joining me in the program.