Govt under fire from own MNAs over drugs price hike

Minister defends appointment of non-elected specialists

ISLAMABAD:

It takes a lot of courage to speak against one’s own party but there was no dearth of it on Thursday.

The ruling party’s lawmakers lambasted the government and their non-elected members on the floor of the National Assembly for increasing drug prices for a third time in the last two years.

Ruling party’s MNA Noor Alam Khan and Riaz Fatyana stunned the treasury benches amid desk-thumping from the opposition side when they criticised the government’s drug policy and its failure to curb prices of medicine.

Showing more courage, Fatyana did not hesitate to quip that even Tiger Force was not deployed to keep a check on the medical stores.

First, Noor showed mirror to the government when he stood up and admitted that “Yes we have won on Imran Khan’s ticket and we are standing with Imran Khan but this doesn’t mean that we should remain silent when the poor is oppressed and the non-elected members are increasing something without taking an input from the public.”

Noor’s first comment brought everyone’s attention to him. Showing no concern, Noor continued by saying “had all those [non-elected members] were elected by the people, just like all the federal ministers, who have come here through the vote and are answerable to their constituents, they would have known about [difficulties of] people.”

Calling the Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan – who answers on behalf of the minister concerned when they are not present – a decent and kind-hearted man, the PTI member from Peshawar said he wanted to tell the minister that “medicine prices have increased thrice during this government’s rule.”

“The medicine for controlling blood pressure, which was available in Rs60 is being sold in Rs360,” Noor regretted amid shouts of “shame, shame” from the opposition benches. Clarifying that it was something that should not be politicised, Noor reminded the lawmakers that they were present under the 99 names of Allah engraved on the National Assembly’s roof.

 “When we come here [assembly], we take Pakistan’s oath,” Noor maintained, adding that parties come after Pakistan and the its people. Amid desk-thumping, Noor said that all the issues were embroiled in politics but questioned why prices of all the medicines, including blood pressure, diabetics and other diseases, were increased. He added these were not the medicines used for cancer treatment.

“I told them [government] a year ago that there will be inflation; I’m saying it again today that the inflation that the government is causing is not a good thing,” Noor said. He added that substandard Indian medicines were taking over the markets.

“No one is raiding the markets selling Indian medicines but everyone is busy creating more difficulties for the poor by increasing prices of the medicines produced by the Pakistani pharmaceutical companies. What benefit do we get from it,” he questioned.

Under the Sharia and the rules, Noor said, the parliamentary minister should not be answering on behalf of the ministers. “Under Shariat-e-Muhammadi, the ministers themselves should answer,” he said. Subsequently, he asked, how many medicines have so far been registered in the last two years of the PTI government; “can they tell us about that”.

“The non-elected members come to take advantage and leave after conning people in the name of Imran Khan,” Noor regretted. “We should also think about it; we have to decrease medicines’ prices because it is for the poor and, by God, the poor is unable to afford medicines.”

Under Sharia, Ali replied that he was bound to defend his leader if he has trust in him, adding that he believed that if there was any leader who fulfilled the criteria of a leader in Pakistan, it was Imran Khan. The reply prompted unease amid lawmakers and sensing the same the deputy speaker asked Ali to limit his answer to the call-attention notice about the drug prices increase.

“I can’t address the concerns of a person if he is not given a portfolio,” Ali continued, adding that the non-elected members have always been appointed as specialists. He added that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and former president Asif Zardari also appointed such people; this left the ruling party’s lawmakers perplexed.

Constitution gives Prime Minister Imran Khan the right to appoint such people, Ali said, adding that Dr Faisal Sultan – the SAPM on health – is a renowned specialist and a success story of Pakistan. Noor held his head in his hands and moved uneasily in his chair when Ali reminded the House that Sultan had come to PM’s aide after successfully running the cancer hospital and he had not taken the charge to commit any corruption.

Several members at the treasury benches started shaking their heads in disapproval when Ali started again to explain why the government allowed increase in the prices of essential drugs. While defending the government’s decision to increase prices of medicines, he said the government only rationalised the prices of the medicines that were being sold in the market at a higher price.

At last, he said, the prices of 94 essential drugs were increased but prices of other 89 medicines were decreased as well. Since July 2020, Ali said, the pharmaceutical companies could not increase medicine prices without government’s permission.

Here, Fatyana took the floor and revealed that a total of 68 drugs were locally manufactured while 26 were imported among the 94 essential drugs and, on average, there was an increase of 260% in the prices of a total of 12,000 medicines. He said there would have been no need to increase drug prices had the government reduced duty on the imported drugs to zero, saying “no one paid heed to that.”

Fatyana said that the government’s notification had stated that the prices of those medicines manufactured before October 1, 2020, would not increase but that is not the case. No agency came into action when the government decided to give a 260% increase in drug prices, Fatyana said, while quipping that “it would have been better if Tiger Force was deployed to control prices”.

Fatyana urged that the government to announce implementation of a generic drug policy – made years ago by the incumbent Minister for Railways Sheikh Rasheed – to immediately decrease drug prices, otherwise, the government was compelling the people to decrease their dose; or survive on Disprin or go the Darbars and survive on “Dam Darood”.

The members lauded the comment by thumping their desks. Ali once again stood up to reply and said that Muslims have faith in Dum Darood.

Meanwhile, former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf paid tribute to the PTI lawmakers for raising the issue of medicines while sitting on the treasury benches. He also requested the speaker to withdraw a resolution passed on Wednesday against the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM).

Science and Technology Minister responded by saying that the opposition had the right to protest but it should refrain from dividing armed forces ranks. He added raising such demands went against the Constitution.

As PML-N’s Khawaja Asif started speaking, a lawmaker pointed out the quorum and the session was prorogued.

Earlier, the government drew opposition’s ire when it sought extension to three ordinances. PPP’s Naveed Qamar said that the government was wholly dependent on ordinances. “This house is being paralysed; the work it is supposed to do is not being done; that work is being done in an ordinance factory somewhere else and this House is being used only for making hue and cry and uproar.” He added the PPP was, in principle, against the ordinances.

JUI-F’s Shahida Akhtar Ali said that the ordinances were presented before the house only when there was an urgency but not when both the houses were in order. “Are we sitting here for saying yes and no to something,” she said, while questioning the rationality of extending the ordinances through the assembly.

Raising questions on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Authority Bill, 2020, after it was laid before the house, the JUI-F leader criticised the government for deviating from its stance on accountability for all.

She said that the Clause 23 of the bill gave complete indemnity to all and proved that the government’s slogan of accountability was limited to the opposition only. “Are you [government] stamping on the narrative that the accountability is only for the opposition; this indemnity will be written on the black page with the black ink [sic] in the history,” she said.

Mohsin Dawar and PML-N’s Khawaja Asif tried to express their views on the CPEC Authority Bill but the deputy speaker said that the bill had already been laid and referred to the relevant committee and they could only speak on another agenda item – an offer both the lawmakers turned down.

Adviser to Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan said that 18th Amendment empowered parliament to exercise its powers after 120 days – the time span for an ordinance to lapse before it is given an extension. Appreciating the soft tone of Qamar, Awan said that parliament didn’t become a hostage while performing constitutional exercise. He, subsequently, moved to other agenda items.

Awan also tabled the CPEC Authority and 26th Constitutional Amendment bills in the assembly.

The deputy speaker forwarded the two bills to standing committees concerned. The opposition lawmakers lodged their protest for not being provided with the copies of the bills.