LHC hears case related to exorbitant increase in price of medicines

The Lahore High Court (LHC)  on Tuesday heard case related to  exorbitant increase in the price of medicines.

The petition seek the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) probe over the matter in order to fix liability on those found guilty of breaching consumer rights.

Justice Amir Bhatti heard the request of local lawyer Nadeem Sarwar.

The court directed the applicant to place a price list of medicines.

The court said in the remarks, We cannot simply process assumptions. How do we make sure prices go up?

It is the job of government agencies to take action against overcharging.

It said in the petition that Pharmaceutical companies have increased the prices of medicines without government approval

More than 90% of medicines prices have been increased by 200%

The government is not taking action against pharmaceutical companies increasing the  price unlawfully.

Providing cheap medicines to the people is the responsibility of the government and the basic right of the people.

DRAP Notification

Earlier On December 31, 2018, the DRAP issued a notification for the price adjustment of 889 medicines

Out of these 889 medicines, the prices of 395 reduced,

Whereas prices of 463 medicines that fall into hardship categories increased up to 200%

It based on their high cost of production and formula prices.

Moreover The DRAP allowed a further increase in the prices of these 463 medicines up to 9% due to the increasing dollar rate.

However Even after such a mammoth increase, some companies have further inflated the medicine prices illegally by another 15% without the approval of the regulatory body.

Furthermore The second notification issued by DRAP on January 10, 2019 allowed regular drugs registered with the authority to increase their prices by 8% to 15%.

65,000 medicines registered with DRAP out of which 45,000 medicines are available in Pakistan.

The recent notification allowed surge in prices of all these 45,000 medicines.