Daily Times

Punjab Governor Muhammad Baligh-ur-Rehman on Wednesday said that he would summon the Punjab Assembly session upon receiving requisition. He said the session of the Punjab Assembly should be held in few days to form new government.

Talking to media after inaugurating the two-day Pak Pharma and Healthcare Expo at the Lahore’s Expo Centre, he said that the constitutional work was done in the previous governments too and it would be continued.

Governor Baligh-ur-Rehman said the new government must see the initiative of the caretaker government to deregulate the prices of medicines and that regulation should not be so much tight that the pharmaceutical companies start thinking to leaving the industry. And any regulation should also not be so weak that the companies start exploiting the masses, the governor said, adding, patients should not be exploited under any circumstances.

He recalled that during the tenure of the PML-N government in 2013-18, the prime minister had rejected such summaries of increase in the prices of medicines.

The Governor lauded the efforts of Prime Event Management and the Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PPMA) for organising a successful expo.

He was of the view that it’s good that raw materials were being produced in Pakistan too, saying there was still room for technology and exports in the pharma sector.

Earlier, the Governor visited various stalls and interacted with the representatives of local and foreign companies.

On this occasion, PPMA Chairman Mian Misbah-ur-Rehman told the media that Pakistan was the only country where the government was still fixing prices of medicines and drugs and now the government’s permission to the pharmaceutical companies to fix prices except life-saving drugs would follow the World Health Organization (WHO) standards.

He said that the prices of more than 450 medicines, which did not fall in the ambit of the essential drugs list of the WHO, were being determined by the government bodies.

He said the Indian government regulated prices of only 360 medicines.

Talking to media, organizer Kamran Abbasi said that the exhibition was exclusively focused on the Pharmaceutical Equipment Manufacturers, Laboratory Equipment, Research and Testing Laboratories, Raw and Packaging supplier, Pharma Printing, Pharma Chemicals, Lab chemicals and Pharma Instruments, Hospital & Health Equipment Manufacturers, Ultra Sound, X-Ray, MRI Machines Cardiac Monitors, Medicines manufacture, surgical equipment, Hospital Consumables and accessories.

Earlier, the two-day 16th Pak Pharma & Healthcare Exhibition & Conference (PPE) kicked off with the participation of more than 400 stalls and 100 foreign and local exhibitors. The mega event was being organised by Prime Event Management with the support of the Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PPMA).