Soaring medicine prices overburden households
Although the wellbeing of a chronically sick loved one is prioritized by nearly all families, those facing soaring medicine prices amidst limited financial resources often have to decide between buying a box of blood thinners and a bag of flour.
One such family was that of Ghulam Rasool, a patient suffering from heart disease and diabetes. "After the recent hike in the prices of medicines, we can no longer afford the treatment dosage prescribed by the doctors. More than half of my salary would go towards the purchase of my medicines, which would make it difficult for me to meet the daily expenses of the house. Therefore, I am forced to discontinue my medicines, putting my life at risk," regretted Rasool, who requested the government to take steps towards reducing the prices of life-saving medicines.
Similarly, Javed, a patient of hypertension revealed that he had been using the blood pressure medication since the past one year. "The price of this medicine has increased by Rs300. Now, instead of taking a dosage daily, I use the medicine every two days due to which my blood pressure is not controlled properly. This has impacted my daily routine and office work severely," lamented Javed.
Zubair Wahab, a Karachi-based wholesale medicine dealer, confirmed that the claims of an unannounced increase in the prices of medicines were, in fact, true. "During the past one year, medicine prices have increased every 15 days by Rs300 to Rs400 while the prices of other medicines have increased significantly by 50 to 75 per cent.
Due to the cold weather, the prices of medicines used for cold, flu, fever and allergy have continuously increased due to an increase in their demand," said Wahab.
According to Asim Jameel Siddiqui, Secretary General at the Pakistan Chemists and Drug Association, the World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a list of 900 medicines, out of which, 400 formulations are life-saving or essential while the remaining 500 formulations are non-essential.
"After decontrolling the prices of non-essential medicines, the prices of non-essential medicines have increased, while an annual increase of seven per cent is allowed for essential medicines. In this case, the shortage of various medicines and vaccines continues while their prices have also increased. Medicines sold by multinational pharma companies cost more than those produced locally. It is true that medicines are falling out of the reach of ordinary patients. Although there is no sales tax on allopathic medicines, an 18 per cent Goods and Services Tax (GST) has been imposed on alternative medicines from 2024," informed Siddiqui.
Siddique further revealed that the price of the pheniramine maleate injection used to treat allergies had increased from Rs432 in April 2024 to Rs1,500 in August 2024. Similarly, a drug used as a multivitamin, which cost Rs224 in April 2024, was increased in price to Rs351 in October 2024.
Furthermore, prochlorperazine maleate, a drug used for treating vomiting was priced at Rs312 in February 2024, which increased to Rs 900 in September 2024. Likewise, the price of one cough syrup increased from Rs89 to Rs130. Similarly, the price of miconazole gel used for ulcers increased from Rs215 to Rs588.
Reportedly, the prices of most medicines have increased three times during the past one year due to which low-income patients have been forced to reduce their dosage of the medicines.