PUNJAB Chief Minister Usman Buzdar on Sunday launched Insaaf Medicine Cards to provide free medicines to the deserving people suffering from various chronic diseases. Under the scheme, 174,882 Insaaf Medicines Cards will be distributed among deserving patients of hepatitis, AIDS, tuberculosis (TB), and other diseases. Under this scheme, patients will be biometrically verified along with the original ID card from his Tehsil or District Headquarters hospitals.
Given the increase witnessed in the prices of medicines over the last one year, the initiative of providing free medicines to the deserving families is very timely and a judicious decision on the part of provincial government. This will really complement the government’s Sehat Sahulat Program under which the health card holders are provided with free of cost indoor healthcare. The real change will, however, be visible and the people will be more content if the scope of Insaaf Medicine Cards scheme is expanded to all the beneficiaries of Sehat Sahulat programme. This will free them from all sorts of worries related to the healthcare expenditures. We will rather suggest that the medicine card program should be fully integrated and made part of the Health Cards Scheme to provide a genuine relief to the masses. Other provincial governments including that of Sindh should also follow the footprints of Punjab government. Then, worries of lower middle and middle class regarding soaring prices of medicines should also be addressed. It can be done by providing incentives to the domestic pharma industry in the form of rebate on utilities as well as reduction in taxes on imported raw materials. This will cut their cost of production and ultimately the benefit will reach the common man. The country imports ninety five percent of its raw materials from Shanghai and Beijing while the rest comes from Japan, Spain and Italy. This increases the cost of medicines. Therefore, the government should encourage the local manufacturing of raw materials. Support in this regard can be sought from friendly countries such as China. This will not only strengthen our pharma industry and raise its exports but also ensure availability of medicines at reasonable rates.
