Pharmaceutical Companies Directed To Decrease Prices Of Medicines

ISLAMABAD: Earlier, the National Health Service Regulations and Coordination held a Senate Committee Meeting that issued a directive addressing the pharmaceutical companies to reduce the prices of over 10,000 life-saving drugs.

The Senate committee meeting was held under the Chairman Mian Muhammad Ateeq Sheikh at the Parliament House.

The authorities were asked to prepare a strategy against 572 Central for Health Establishment employees, who are receiving salaries while sitting at home.

Upon enquiry, the Senate body was informed that the news of rise in prices was bogus. The committee’s Chairman then requested the Secretary Health to compare the original manufacturing cost with the market price of the medicines, which revealed and confirmed the news of increased prices of drugs.

Following the disclosure, the Director accepted that the huge difference in prices was due to recent adjustment of prices.

The competent authorities were then strictly directed to reduce the prices as soon as possible.

Registrar, Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) informed the Senate that, they have been working to digitalize the affairs of ad-hoc committee of PMDC, due to which all doctors across the country, will soon get registered through smart solution instead of standing in long queues.

Furthermore, the Registrar added that, currently 240,000 doctors are registered in the country, out of which, 66,680 doctors still haven’t renewed their degrees from PMDC. To which he added that PMDC has appealed to the doctors across Pakistan through an advertisement, to renew their degrees.

Moreover, the Senate committee also expressed reservations over high fees of public and private medical colleges, recommending a uniform fee system in all the medical colleges.

Senator, Dr. Ghous Muhammad Khan Niazi, Senator Muhammad Safeeq Tareen, Ayesha Raza Farooq, Dilawar Khan, Dr. Asad Ashraf, Dr. Ashok Kumar, Dr. Sikandar Mandhro, Samina Saeed, Dr. Mehr Taj Roghani and other relevant officials attended this meeting.