LHC issues notice to govt against increase in medicine prices

Notices issued to federal, provincial government and DRAP

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday issued notices to the federal government, Punjab government and the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) on increasing the prices of medicines.

Justice Shahid Waheed sent the notice to relevant authorities after hearing Advocate Nadeem Sarwar's petition and sought replies forthwith.



The petitioner stressed that the government has increased prices of medicine by nine to 15 per cent instead of providing relief to the public.

The petition further maintained that there are laws in place against raising the price of life-saving drugs by more than nine per cent and the same is in violation of Article 9 and 38D of the Constitution.

The petitioner pleaded that Pakistan is a poor country and this price increase has put pressure on the less privileged people of the country and thus the notification issued to increase the prices should be rejected.

Earlier, the DRAP fixed prices of packaging for 1,084 medicines and issued formal SROs with the approval of the government.

Three DRAP SROs provided details of 128 kinds of medicines that included brand names, compositions, names of manufacturing companies, sizes of packing and maximum retail prices of syrups, tablets, capsules and various injections.

The SROs directed companies that the prices fixed by DRAP should be printed on the packing.

The statement added that the new prices would not be applicable on the medicines which were registered earlier than the issuance of the notification while it would be mandatory for the manufacturers and importers of the medicines to present the RMP to the costing and pricing division of DRAP.