Govt allows import of life-saving drugs from India

Cabinet authorises commerce ministry to clear medicine imports on case-by-case basis

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will allow the import of life-saving drugs from India but only on the condition that the drugs are used for non-commercial purposes.

The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting held on November 23 and chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

The cabinet authorised the commerce ministry to allow the import of such medicines on “a case-by-case basis”.



Previously, the prime minister’s approval was required for allowing the import of items listed on the ‘negative list’.

Officials said the cabinet was informed that several donor-funded health programmes were being run in Pakistan for eliminating various diseases.

The government, officials said, also received in kind support and donations from donors such as the Global Fund (GF) and Global Drug Facility (GDF) for running such programmes.

Most accredited anti-TB drugs, the government was informed, were being manufactured in India and many medicines of Indian origin were on the ‘negative list’ under the current import regime.

Earlier, securing permission for importing any item on the negative list was difficult because it required the approval of the prime minister after getting the concurrence of a high-level committee headed by the commerce minister. The attendance of the secretaries of commerce, industries and production and the FBR chairman was also required in the meeting.



The cabinet was urged to authorise the commerce ministry to allow non-commercial imports of medicines listed on the ‘negative list’ and third-party (such as WHO) donations from India on case-to-case basis.

It is learnt that when the proposal was submitted to the prime minister, he wanted it to be placed before the cabinet or the Economic Committee of the Cabinet since the proposal entailed a policy shift.

The ministries of industries and production, national health, service regulations and coordination divisions and FBR had supported the idea.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 9^th, 2016.