LHC summons PPMA, Secretary Health over drug price hike

Lahore: The Lahore High Court (LHC) has accepted an application for hearing against unilateral increase in prices of medicines by Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PPMA) and summoned the respondents on Dec 06.

According to the details, Mian Aftab has invoked the LHC against PPMA and Secretary Health saying that PPMA’s circular issued on November 8^th in which it has asked member companies to upward revise prices by 18 per cent was unilateral and illegal.

The petitioner further prayed that the PPMA has also sent a copy of the circular to Secretary Health but no action was taken which proves collusion to deprive masses of Rs 200 billion annually.

The applicant said that there is no pricing policy for drugs therefore all the decisions of the pricing board and pricing committee are illegal and that there is no representation of masses or consumers in the above mentioned bodies.

Pricing mechanism and pricing date of the ministry of health is faulty which serves the purpose of pharma industry only.

After the arguments, Justice Ijaz ul Hassan of the LHC accepted the petition for hearing and summoned the respondents to appear before the court on December 6^th.

Later, Mian Aftab said that prices of medicines are already 600 to 1000 more as compared to neighbouring countries and no step has been taken to rationalise it.

He said that PM has rejected the notification of hike in prices of thousands of drugs on which pharma industry has created artificial shortage which must be probed in the public interest.