President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) Ahsan Zafar Bakhtawari Monday urged the government to address the shortage of Panadol tables on priority basis and protect consumers from further trouble.
He said that consumers are facing difficulty in finding a common medicine while the business of pharmacies is also suffering due to unavailibily of Panadol in the market.
He said this while talking to a delegation of Pakistan Chemists and Druggists Association, Islamabad Chapter that visited ICCI. The delegation was led by the Chairman PCDA Mian Tariq Saeed. President ICCI said that there is a great demand for Panadol in the market due to rising cases of dengue virus and malaria, across the country, especially in flood-hit areas, but the shortage has exposed patients to serious health problems.
He said that the manufacturer has suspended the production of Panadol due to twofold increase in the prices of its raw material and urged the government to take urgent measures to rationalize the prices of raw material to ensure re-start of its production and easy availability in the market. Speaking at the occasion, Mian Tariq Saeed, Chairman, PCDA, Islamabad Chapter highlighted various issues being faced by pharmacy sector and said that the price of raw materials used in production of Panadol has witnessed a twofold increase which affected the availability of the product and pharmacies were losing business on this account.
He said that the online buying and selling of medicines is illegal under the Drug Act and stressed that the regulator should ensure strict implementation of the law as this practice is affecting the business of authorized chemists and druggists. Nasir M. Qureshi, Executive Member ICCI, on the occasion said that high energy cost and tight drug regulations were the major hurdles for the growth of pharma industry in Pakistan. He urged the government to consider deregulating the sector that would bring competition and reduce prices of medicines. Malik Ashfaq, Qaiser Masood and others also spoke at the occasion and urged the need to address the issues of chemists and druggists to facilitate the growth of their business activities.
It is one thing to play the role of a functional opposition and force the…
Ever since the newly announced grand military operation against the threat of terrorism, the executive…
In my last week's column Rise and Fall of Societies-I, published in Daily Times, Pakistan…
The government and Pakistani institutions are installing a firewall at the internet gateway to control…
“A spread of the Israel-Hamas war to Lebanon would be potentially apocalyptic” a warning came…
Leave a Comment