LAHORE   -  Amidst the ongoing dispute between the government and phar­maceutical companies regarding pricing, a multitude of essential and life-saving drugs has vanished from the market, jeopardizing the health and lives of patients. These cru­cial medications are notably absent from the medicine market at Lohari and various medical stores, includ­ing outlets from major pharmacy chains.

Common citizens bear the brunt of this situation, facing in­flated prices for sub­stitutes, often more than double the cost of the original drugs. Pharmacy owners es­timate that over 40 percent of the drugs listed as essential by the World Health Or­ganization (WHO) are currently unavailable in the market. These include medicines like Flagyl, Amoxil, Septran, Brufen, Ponstan, Clex­ane, Dalacin, Pyodine, Decadron, Anti-TB preparations, Novomix insulin, Heparin, and Omnipaque injection.

Despite several rounds of talks be­tween representatives of the pharmaceutical industry and federal and provincial authori­ties, no resolution has been reached, leading to a shortage of essen­tial medicines. Mian Khalid Misbah, central chairman of the Paki­stan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers As­sociation (PPMA), at­tributed the increased cost of doing business due to factors such as exchange rate fluctua­tions, higher wages, and increased electric­ityand gas tariffs. 

Talking to The Na­tion, he argued that revising the prices of essential drugs is es­sential to provide real­istic profit margins to manufacturers, dealers, wholesalers, and retail­ers. Misbah stressed the necessity of timely price revisions to pre­vent more drugs from becoming unprofitable and urged against forc­ing companies to pro­duce essential drugs in required quantities. Lower prices, he explained, con­tribute to hoarding and the resale of medicines at in­flated rates. To address the shortage effectively, he ad­vocated for providing a re­alistic profit margin across the entire supply chain, from manufacturers to retailers. He also highlighted other is­sues, such as the provision of raw materials and drug reg­istration, and urged the gov­ernment to implement drug pricing policies rigorously. He suggested that if there are concerns with existing poli­cies, the government should resolve them through con­sultations with stakeholders rather than neglecting the implementation of the exist­ing policies.