Daily Times

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday suspended the operation of a notification, permitting pharmaceutical companies to sell medicines that were not on the National List of Essential Medicines (NEML) at self-determined prices.

Justice Shahid Karim passed the orders on a petition, filed by a citizen, Muhammad Aslam, challenging the notification, issued by the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations, and Coordination, about the non-NEML drugs, a day earlier. The court also issued notices to the caretaker government and other respondents and sought a reply.

Earlier, during the proceedings, the petitioner’s counsel contended that a recent decision by the caretaker federal government led to issuance of the notification, enabling pharmaceutical companies to sell non-NEML drugs at self-determined prices. He argued that the caretaker government lacked the authority to make such a decision and expressed concerns that the companies would burden the public by selling medicines at arbitrary prices. The counsel urged the court to invalidate the notification, asserting it was issued unlawfully. He also requested to suspend the notification till final decision of the petition.