THE Federal Cabinet, which met in Islamabad with interim Prime Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar in the chair, took several decisions to ensure transparency and streamline working of different sectors. In a highly appreciable move, it decided to review the entire mechanism for fixation of drug prices and regulations leading to a new drug policy that should be balanced; approved first-ever National Space Policy;and extended the stay of Afghan nationals in Pakistan, who were to be deported to a third country, from December 31 to February 29 next year.
The procedure and formula for fixation of prices of drugs has remained controversial throughout as it mostly served the interests of the pharmaceutical industry at the cost of the ailing community. There have been credible reports and studies that highlighted the issue of over-invoicing in the import of raw material for local manufacturing of drugs. This has far-reaching implications for consumer prices as Pakistan imports 90% of the raw material for the purpose and an analysis of import prices of raw material by different manufacturers show great variations in spite of the fact that manufacturers claim to comply with legal quality control specifications as approved by the government. Similarly, prices are supposed to come down after expiry of patent rights but this has not happened despite the fact we have a full-fledged regulatory body to oversee such issues. One must give credit to Health Minister Dr. Nadeem Jan, who has acknowledged the reality that the existing drug policy ‘was not people-centric but profit- and manufacturer-centric’, hoping that the new policy would take care of this aspect. Minister for IT and Telecom Dr. Umar Saif shared the good news that the latest 5G technology would be introduced ‘shortly’ with prospects of bringing about yet another revolution in the sector. Minister for Information and Broadcasting Murtaza Solangi said the cabinet approved the country’s first-ever National Space Policy under which the international companies will be allowed to provide communication and coordination services to people. Details are not available but one hopes the policy would not just attract foreign companies to provide latest technology and services to consumers as this would be merely a drain on our resources and instead focus should be on indigenous research and development. This assumes greater significance in view of the fact that SUPARCO could not make an impact in the field despite its monopoly and dominance.
