Second Drug Price Hike In October

On Wednesday the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) has announced a surge in prices of ninety-four life-saving drugs. 

After the approval from the cabinet, the price hike notification was issued today.

The drugs used in cancer, heart diseases, and blood pressure are the ones included in the list. The anti-rabies vaccine also received a hike. These new rates will remain till 31st June 2021. 
In order to ensure the drug’s availability in the market, last month, the federal cabinet approved the increase in the prices of 94 drugs.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr. Faisal Sultan and Information Minister Shibli Faraz, in a press conference, stated, “The cabinet allowed an increase in the prices of those drugs which are short in the market as their manufacturers have stopped their production due to losses,” as quoted by ARY News.

They defended the hike by proclaiming that most of these drugs have not seen any increase in price for 10 years, thus manufacturers were shutting down their production which leads to the shortage of these medicines.

Read More:Another Drugs' Price Hike This Month

However, this is not the first notice of price hikethis month, on october 19th DRAP increased the prices of 243 drugs.