KARACHI:

Although the well-being of a chronically ill loved one is a priority for almost all families, those facing skyrocketing drug prices amid limited financial resources often have to choose between buying a box of blood thinners and a bag of flour.

One such family was Ghulam Rasool, a patient suffering from heart disease and diabetes. “After the recent increase in the price of medicine, we can no longer afford the treatment dose prescribed by the doctors. More than half of my salary would go to the purchase of my medicine, which would make it difficult for me to cope with daily life. Therefore I am forced to discontinue my medicine, putting my life at risk,” lamented Rasool, who requested the government to take steps to reduce the prices of life-saving medicines. medicines.

Similarly, Javed, a patient with hypertension revealed that he had been using the blood pressure medication since the last year. “The price of this medicine has increased by Rs 300. Now, instead of taking a dose daily, I use the medicine every other day due to which my blood pressure is not controlled properly. This has seriously affected my daily routine and office work.” Javed lamented.

Zubair Wahab, a Karachi-based medicine dealer, confirmed that the allegations of an unannounced increase in the prices of medicines were indeed true. “During the past one year, medicine prices have increased every 15 days by Rs300 to Rs400, while 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 of the Pakistan Chemists and Drug Association, the World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a list of 900 drugs, of which 400 formulations are life-saving or essential, while the remaining 500 formulations are non-essential.

“After decontrolling the prices of non-essential drugs, the prices of non-essential drugs have increased, while an annual increase of seven per cent has been allowed for essential drugs. In this case, the shortage of various drugs and vaccines continues, while the prices of these continue .has also increased Medicines sold by multinational pharmaceutical companies cost more than those produced locally, an 18 percent Goods and Services Tax (GST) has been imposed on alternative from 2024. medicine,” Siddiqui stated.

Siddique further revealed that the price of the pheniramine maleate injection used to treat allergies had increased from Rs 432. in April 2024 to Rs.1,500. in August 2024. Similarly, a drug was used as a multivitamin which cost Rs.224. in April 2024, increased in price. to Rs 351 by October 2024.

Also, prochlorperazine maleate, a drug used to treat vomiting, was priced at Rs 312 in February 2024, rising to Rs 900 in September 2024. Likewise, the price of a cough syrup increased from Rs 89 to Rs 130. Similarly, the price of miconazole gel used for wounds increased from Rs 215 to Rs 588.

The prices of most drugs have reportedly increased threefold over the past year, forcing low-income patients to reduce their dosage of the drugs.