Suo motu action: Chief Justice takes notice of inflated medicine prices
Three-member bench to hear case next week
Supreme Court. PHOTO: EXPRESS/FILE
ISLAMABAD:
The apex court on Friday said it will take up a suo motu notice next week on the rising prices of medicines in the country, chief among them those which are used for treating hepatitis C.
Hepatitis C has a high rate of incidence in Pakistan with prevalence ranging between four and seven per cent. So far, six variants (genotypes) of the virus have been identified in the country.
Chief Justice of Pakistan Anwar Zaheer Jamali, while taking notice of the high rate of incidence of hepatitis C, noted that its propagation was helped by poor sanitation and other issues, as well as a steep rise in the price of hepatitis C medicine which had put it out of the reach of patients.
Justice Jamali also took notice over the reported deaths of thousands of children last year due to treatable diseases such as pneumonia and diarrhoea.
The CJP issued notices to the federal and provincial health secretaries and sought their comments.
A three-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, is expected to take up the case on December 22.
The suo moto notice was taken up after Sheraz Mehmood Qureshi, a resident of Mansehra district, raised the matter in a letter to the court along with two columns published in the Daily Express.
One of the columns, authored by Orya Maqbool Jan on November 13, stated that 144,000 children had died due to pneumonia and diarrhoea in Pakistan in 2014 alone.
The second column, authored by Javed Chaudhry and published on November 19, pointed out the rapid spread of hepatitis C across Pakistan. Chaudhry had claimed that prices for medicines for the treatment of hepatitis C were sold at a higher price in Pakistan with some influential people involved in the business.
The chief justice converted the columns and Sheraz’s application into a suo motu petition under Article 184(3) of the Constitution.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 19th, 2015.
The apex court on Friday said it will take up a suo motu notice next week on the rising prices of medicines in the country, chief among them those which are used for treating hepatitis C.
Hepatitis C has a high rate of incidence in Pakistan with prevalence ranging between four and seven per cent. So far, six variants (genotypes) of the virus have been identified in the country.
Chief Justice of Pakistan Anwar Zaheer Jamali, while taking notice of the high rate of incidence of hepatitis C, noted that its propagation was helped by poor sanitation and other issues, as well as a steep rise in the price of hepatitis C medicine which had put it out of the reach of patients.
Justice Jamali also took notice over the reported deaths of thousands of children last year due to treatable diseases such as pneumonia and diarrhoea.
The CJP issued notices to the federal and provincial health secretaries and sought their comments.
A three-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, is expected to take up the case on December 22.
The suo moto notice was taken up after Sheraz Mehmood Qureshi, a resident of Mansehra district, raised the matter in a letter to the court along with two columns published in the Daily Express.
One of the columns, authored by Orya Maqbool Jan on November 13, stated that 144,000 children had died due to pneumonia and diarrhoea in Pakistan in 2014 alone.
The second column, authored by Javed Chaudhry and published on November 19, pointed out the rapid spread of hepatitis C across Pakistan. Chaudhry had claimed that prices for medicines for the treatment of hepatitis C were sold at a higher price in Pakistan with some influential people involved in the business.
The chief justice converted the columns and Sheraz’s application into a suo motu petition under Article 184(3) of the Constitution.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 19th, 2015.