Pakistan today faces diverse and severe healthcare issues. There have been reports recently that the number of AIDS/HIV patients in Punjab jails has reached 3,000. This has caused alarm in Sindh, which is reeling from an HIV epidemic of its own. Other reports indicate that waterborne diseases are spreading in our cities as well as rural areas. According to a World Health Organization survey, Pakistan has the second highest number of hepatitis patients in the world. The number of heart and lungs patients is also alarming. Lack of awareness and unhealthy lifestyles are not the only reasons for the high burden of these diseases. The costs of treatment, particularly the prices of medicines have been rising steeply and are an under-reported cause of health problems. To work out ways to address these issues, Health Minister Dr Zafar Mirza has been looking for some out-of-the-box solutions. He has shown a keen interest in the legality of the hike in prices of medicines. Recently, he told participants of the Health and Population Think Tank at Health Services Academy that access to affordable medicines was the government’s top priority. The 18th Amendment has made heath care a provincial subject. However, the federal government still manages the Drug Regulatory Authority. The minister said that the government was committed to transforming the institutional outlook at the authority. He said in two years the results of the commitment would become visible. Access to affordable medicines is not an issue peculiar to Pakistan. The poor across the globe face the problem. The developed countries have failed so far to appreciate the need for life-saving drugs not to be profitable commodities. The government needs to take into consideration the fact that India has become the pharmacy of the developing world because its courts have facilitated compulsory licensing wherever the question of saving lives has arisen. Regulations need to be put in place for pricing medicines, protecting intellectual property but not at the cost of human lives. There is also a need to maintain supply chains. Dr Mirza has a diverse background in health care and protection of consumer rights, which makes him one of the few ministers who know how to handle the issues their ministries are supposed to look after. It is reasonable therefore to hope that he will bring down the prices of medicines for the poor and thus help save millions of lives. *