K-P Assembly demands reduction in medicine prices

Lawmakers submit adjournment motion; say inflation made lives of poor people miserable

PESHAWAR:

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Monday demanded reduction in medicine prices while observing that rates had gone beyond the purchasing power of the common man.

An adjournment motion submitted by Humera Khatoon, Sirajuddin and Inayatullah Khan of Jamaat-e-Islami said inflation had already made the lives of poor people miserable while on the other hand the rates of medicines were increasing continuously.

They said that most of the people regularly use the medicines for diabetes, blood pressure, cardiac issues and other diseases.

ANP parliamentary leader Sardar Hussain Babak said the people of K-P were not only facing the issue of expensive medicines but also prolonged power and gas load-shedding in the oil and gas-generating province of the country.

Naeema Kishawar of the JUI-F said that prices of medicines had increased manifold during the PTI government.

Balochistan Awami Party parliamentary leader Bilawal Afridi said that the people of merged districts were deprived of their basic rights.

He said that the government and opposition should work for the welfare of people and betterment of the province.

PML-N’s Ikhtiar Wali said mafias were involved in increasing medicine prices and blamed the PTI government for it, adding that a cousin of former prime minister Imran Khan, Board of Governors Chairman Dr Nausherwan Burki should be inquired in this regard.

Labour Minister Shaukat Ali Yousafzai claimed that the PTI government provided huge relief in the medical sector including free of cost medicines and health-card facility.

He said that due to the coronavirus pandemic, all the machinery was stopped but the government did historical work for the welfare of people.

Shaukat said that former PM Imran tried to bring the country out of economic crisis but unfortunately he was not allowed to complete his tenure. He said the rate of dollar and petrol crossed double century soon after Imran was forced to quit the government.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 24^th, 2022.