Islamabad:
The ongoing economic crisis in Pakistan has severely affected the healthcare system where patients are struggling to get essential medicines. The country’s lack of foreign exchange reserves has affected Pakistan’s ability to import essential drugs or active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) used in domestic production.
As a result, local drug manufacturers were forced to reduce their production as patients in hospitals suffered. Doctors are forced not to perform surgeries due to lack of medicines and medical equipment.
According to Pakistan media reports, operation theaters are left with less than a two-week stock of anesthetics needed for sensitive surgeries including heart, cancer and kidney. This situation may also result in loss of jobs in the hospitals of Pakistan, adding to the misery of the people.
Drug makers have blamed the financial system for the crisis in the healthcare system, claiming that commercial banks are not issuing fresh letters of credit (LCs) for their imports.
Pakistan drug manufacturing is highly dependent on imports, with about 95 percent of drugs requiring raw materials from other countries, including India and China. For most of the drug manufacturers, imported material has been held up at Karachi port due to lack of dollars in the banking system.
The drug manufacturing industry has said that the cost of manufacturing the drug has been rising steadily due to rising fuel costs and transportation charges and sharp devaluation of the Pakistani rupee.
Recently, the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) sought the government’s intervention to prevent the situation from turning into a disaster. However, the authorities are still trying to assess the quantum of shortfall instead of taking immediate steps.
Drug retailers in Pakistan’s Punjab have said that government survey teams visited the area to find shortages of critical drugs. Retailers revealed that the shortage of some common but important medicines is affecting most of the customers. These drugs include Panadol, Insulin, Brufen, Disprin, Calpol, Tegral, Nimesulide, Hepamerz, Buscopan and Rivotril.
Earlier in January, Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PPMA) central president Syed Farooq Bukhari had said that currently 20-25 per cent of pharmaceutical production is sluggish, reported The Express Tribune. “If the current policies (import ban) continue for another four to five weeks, the country will face the worst drug crisis,” he added.
Earlier this month, the Pakistan government and IMF staff completed the ninth review of the US$6.5 billion bailout package without staff-level agreement. The Pakistani government hoped that they would be able to convince the IMF to gradually introduce conditions. However, Islamabad’s hopes were dashed during the IMF mission’s 10-day visit to Pakistan.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and was auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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