NAB chairman orders inquiry into medicine price hike

Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal takes notice of accusations of corruption

ISLAMABAD: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal ordered on Tuesday an inquiry into the increase in medicine prices.

Taking notice of the accusations of corruption and the prices of medicine jacking up by 100% to 300% across the country, Iqbal has directed NAB Rawalpindi director general to launch an inquiry against the officers of the federal health ministry and drug regulatory authority responsible for the hike.

In January this year, the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) notified an increase of up to 15% in the price of medicines across the country with the approval of the federal government.

The retail price of life-saving drugs was increased by 9% and 15% in the case of other medicines.

Amir Kiani, the former national health services minister who has recently been sacked from the federal cabinet by Prime Minister Imran Khan, said he was not to be blamed for the hike in medicines prices.

“The increase in medicine prices were first done under the previous Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz [PML-N] government and partially now because of our exchange rate against the US dollar,” he added.

According to the former federal minister, the decision to increase prices of 345 medicines by 2.4 per cent was made during the PML-‘s tenure.

“After this the price of a medicine costing Rs100 increased to almost Rs240,” he said, adding that the current government had only marginally increased the prices of medicines.

“Due to the rise in dollar exchange rate, we were compelled to increase prices of some medicines between 2% to 9%,” he said.