Drug court to try firms refusing to cut prices

Senate panel seeks report on the hike in medicine prices

ISLAMABAD: The government is expected to take up the issue of hike in drug prices at its next cabinet meeting while it intends to move the drug court against all those pharmaceutical companies who refuse to lower prices of their medicines in line with the recent policy decision of the government.

This was disclosed by the federal health secretary during a meeting of the Senate’s Standing Committee on National Health which met with Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) Senator Mian Ateeq Shaikh in the chair.

Federal Health Secretary Captain (retired) Zahid Saeed told the committee that the government had last allowed an increase in prices of medicines in 2001. Another 15% increase in prices was approved in 2013 but this decision was reversed soon after. The pharmaceutical companies, though, moved to the court against the decision.

The Supreme Court had then ordered to take a decision on prices of 890 medicines within 10 weeks. In the meantime, thousands of cases for an increase in medicine prices under hardship were submitted to the drug regulator.

The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Drap) then issued an order to reduce prices of 395 medicines while it directed to increase the prices of 464 medicines under the hardship quota. Prices of some 30 drugs were kept unchanged. Pharmaceutical companies, Saeed said, refused to reduce the prices of the 395 medicines and instead approached the Sindh High Court and obtained a stay order. The high court last month decided in favour of the government and rejected the appeal from pharmaceutical companies.

The health secretary added that prices of some 52 drugs sharply rose by 200-300%. Saeed said that the government is expected to take up this issue in the next cabinet meeting and assured that prices of 52 drugs will be brought at all costs.

In this regard, he said that the government intends to move the drug court against the pharmaceutical companies not complying with orders to lower drug prices and recover the extra sum they had collected from the public.

Saeed further told the committee that the drug pricing committee was responsible to fix medicine prices, not Drap. “It is not a single man’s job [to fix drug prices],” Saeed said.

Senator Shaikh asked about the 2.4 factor in drug pricing policy and details of the hardship pricing policy.

“Who recommended it [to raise medicine prices]?” he asked and called for the drug pricing policy to be presented in the next meeting.

The meeting also deliberated over the Prime Minister’s Polio Programme.

Shaikh pointed out that the upper house of Parliament was authorized to seek the opinion of the prime minister on any matter. He further noted that the spokesperson for the polio programme should not issue statements via social media platforms and instead, should present their opinions before the committee.

The committee also reviewed the annual Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) allocations for the upcoming budget for the fiscal year 2019-20. The committee members were directed to prepare recommendations.

Senator Shaikh lamented that only a few Senators had responded to calls for recommendations, adding that the committee will reach a conclusion on the proposed budget after reviewing the recommendations.

The chairman of the committee further said that in the last meeting, he had asked about funds for the vertical programmes of the health ministry.

He noted that the funds could be stopped as decided in the 12th amendment. However, he noted that a number of programmes stand to be affected if the funds were stopped.

At this, the health secretary stated that the government was bound to continue funding such programmes until the National Finance Commission Award (NFC) award 2015 is awarded but had continued to fund it until 2018.

A summary with recommendations from the provinces will now be sent to the Council of Common Interests (CCI) for approval.  Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq noted that the prime minister should be informed about this as the federal government had funded these programmes until 2018 but money has not been released since. The shortage of funds, she said, would create various problems.

Senator Dr Asad Ashraf wondered about the sudden rise in AIDS cases in Sindh. Senator Sirajul Haq noted that some Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) also create negative propaganda after receiving funds from different sources. He noted that a similar ‘outbreak’ was reported from Kohat a decade ago.

The committee, though, summoned a report about the AIDS cases.

Reviewing the land transfer of Shifa International Hospital (SIH), the committee was told that a plot for a charity was provided for the hospital under a trust. However, the land was later transferred to a company.

Senator Shaikh raised questions about the transfer and noted that the hospital was not treating patients for free.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 14^th, 2019.