A day after the health authorities made changes to how medicine prices are regulated, the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) announced an increase in the prices of 146 medicines on Tuesday.
These medicines are crucial and are listed in the National Essential Medicine List (NEML).
The Federal Health Ministry had allowed pharmaceutical companies to raise the prices of all medicines, except those in the NEML, the day before. On Tuesday, the drug regulatory authorities increased the prices of 146 essential medicines.
These medicines, whose prices were raised through a notification on February 19, 2024, are considered ‘hardship cases.’ These cases were sent to the federal government a few months ago when pharmaceutical companies refused to make them because it wasn’t financially viable.
The updated list of medicines includes life-saving drugs, injectable and oral antibiotics, drugs for inflammation, psychiatric conditions, autoimmune diseases, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, fungal illnesses, allergies, diabetes, synthetic hormones for female health, and more. Vaccines like MMR and typhoid, nebulizing solutions, iodinated contrast agents for diagnostics, and anesthesia drugs are also on the list.
An official from the health ministry mentioned that out of 262 hardship cases, the prices of 146 were increased because they were part of the essential medicines list. He explained that the remaining medicines would have their prices increased by the companies themselves after the federal government decided to deregulate prices.
The official stated that the government chose to deregulate medicine prices to make sure they are available in the market. With price control, some medicines weren’t being produced or imported, leading to the rise of fake and low-quality medicines in the market. The official claimed that now, with increased prices for essential medicines, genuine and high-quality medicines would be more accessible to people.