Govt promoting generic medicines instead of brand names: Patel
Zubair Qureshi Islamabad
Federal Minister for National Health Services on (NHS) Abdul Qadir Patel Monday brushed aside the rumours that the market was running short of ‘headache’ pills and urged the masses not to pay heed to such baseless, fake news. There are more than 100 brand names in the market for Paracetamol and if one specific brand name is in shortage one can go for the other, he said.
While addressing a press conference in Islamabad along with Chairman of the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) Asim Rauf, Patel said his ministry was under immense pressure to jack up the prices of medicines but he had decided not to listen to such demands. I am aware that people are increasingly suffering from headaches due to the [non-stop and boring] speeches of former Prime Minister Imran Khan and this has resulted in an increase in the demand for these pills, he said on a lighter note.
He drew the attention of the media towards the fact that during Imran Khan’s tenure, prices of some 570 medicines were raised up to 170pc. Imran Khan’s former Health Minister and Secretary General of his party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Amir Kiani is facing a case in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for his alleged involvement in the medicines prices scam, said Qadir Patel adding because of that anti-poor policies of Imran Khan government, medicines went out of reach of the poor people’s reach.
