SIALKOT - Medical stores in Sialkot, Daska, Sambrial, Pasrur, Zafarwal, Shakargarh and surrounding areas have announced 20 to 35 percent increase in the prices of medicines despite the government’s announcement to withdraw increase in medicines’ prices.
The medical stores’ owners have also created artificial shortage of several medicines.
They also have further increased the prices of as many as 150 life saving drugs.
This alarming situation has perturbed the patients suffering from diabetes, heart, kidney, liver, stomach, cough, flue and fever, as this high increase have taken the antibiotic medicines away from their reach.
The perturbed patients Nasir Mehmood, Sakeena Bibi, Aslam, Bashir Ahmed and Ghulam Rasul said that the medical stores’ owners have increased the prices of insulin from Rs600 to 860, as this insulin was available at the price of Rs550 to 600 before the budget.
This hike in insulin prices has badly affected the patients suffering from diabetes. They said that there was also acute shortage of the insulin in all the government hospitals in Sialkot, Daska, Sambrial, Pasrur and Zafarwal, due to which the patients were forced to go to the private medical stores, but this increase in Insulin prices by the medical stores was also unaffordable for the poor patients.
In Sialkot, the dozens of the affected patients today staged a peaceful agitational demonstration against, what they said, unbearable, 20 to 35 percent increase in the prices of all the prices by the medical stores owners and even the non-availability of the life saving drugs. They chanted anti-government slogans.
The perturbed patients and local lawyers-cum-human rights activists Shahid Mir, Ghazala Adnan, Aliya Hina and Lala Mubashar Hussain have expressed grave concern over this situation. They termed this increase in prices as a great pity with patients. They have urged the Prime Minister Imran Khan, Punjab Governor Ch. Muhammad Sarwar and Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar to take notice of this big increase in medicines’ prices by the medical stores. They demanded relief for the patients.
