Daily Times

A petitioner in Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday challenged the increase in prices of medicines announced by the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP).

A citizen Nadeem Sarwar, in his petition has made the provincial Health Department and the Punjab government a party in the case.

The petitioner dubbing the hike in prices of medicines as illegal said that no new formula was determined for fixation of the drugs prices and without a price formula the prices could not be fixed.

The petitioner pleaded to the court to declare the DRAP notification as null and void and also ordered for determination of a formula to fix the prices.

The authority last Friday had announced to hike prices of medicines by up to 15 percent; a spokesperson for DRAP termed the hike to be in the larger interest of the country and patients.

He said the increase in medicine prices was inevitable owing to various reasons.

“The dollar increased by 30 percent over the last year, which led to an increase in prices of raw material and packaging.”

Besides, the increase in gas and electricity prices, employees’ salaries and additional duty put extra burden on the pharmaceutical industry, the spokesperson said.

The prices had to be revised to keep up with the cost incurred on the manufacturing of medicines, he added.

Published in Daily Times, January 17^th 2019.