LAHORE - The rates of insecticides sprays, preventive lotions, essential medicines and CBC medical tests are skyrocketing from the day the dengue virus spread in the City and labs, medical stores and shopkeepers are fully exploiting the situation by overcharging in violation of government instructions, a survey conducted by TheNation revealed. It was also witnessed that some shopkeepers and owners of medical stores were charging double of the original prices of insecticide sprays, preventive lotions and medicines. According to them, they are compelled to increase prices of such products because the wholesalers and dealers have increased the prices. Further, increasing demand of such products also imbalanced the demand and supply and consequently the dealers and wholesalers started black marketing of these items. The dealers and wholesalers are not only getting full advantage of the disaster-like situation in the City and minting money but are also defaming the retailers and small shopkeepers, said Naveed, owner of a medical store situated near Sir Ganga Ram Hospital. The survey further revealed that the shopkeepers and retailers were selling an insecticide spray at Rs 200 to 400, which was earlier available in the market at Rs 100 to Rs 250. Shopkeepers are also charging Rs 100 to Rs 150 on preventive lotions of different companies which were earlier available in at Rs 50 to Rs 70 only. Some citizens complained that mostly retailers and shopkeepers seem reluctant to display such essential items in the racks of their stores and shops and are keeping them at some secret places within their shops or away from the shops particularly and provide such products only when the consumers agree to pay their demanded prices otherwise they refuse to sale. On the other hand, the private laboratories are deceiving dengue patients by displaying rates of CBC test at Rs 90 fixed by the government but in fact the lab owners are charging Rs 160 for each test. Mujataba, a dengue present at a private lab, situated at Shadbagh said that the lab attendants were not taking his blood sample for CBC test when he insisted them to charge Rs 90, the rate which they displayed at counter of their lab as test fee but they refused and then agreed to take sample of blood when he paid Rs 150 as test fee.