Staff Reporter Rawalpindi
A sharp hike has been witnessed in the medicine prices recently on Sunday. The lifesaving drugs’ prices went up visibly as the price of insulin, which is used for sugar patients’ treatment increased from Rs41 to Rs70. Humulin price went up from 874 to 915 while Insulin hiked from 694 to 764.
Eye drop’s prices also increased by Rs41. A pack of 50 tablets of Trioptal which is used to treat epilepsy/seizures/fits has gone up by Rs357. The 10-tablet strap for Escort plus, a medicine used in heart disease, has gone up by Rs16. The current wave of inflation affected all kind of daily commodities as well as medicine.
Last Year, the federal government had approved a hike as high as 262% in the prices of nearly 100 local and imported medicines in Pakistan.
Long-term shortages of some key or lifesaving medicines prompted the federal cabinet to allow rationalizing prices of drugs that had been reported to be in short supply due to unrealistically low prices.
This change was approved for drugs in the ‘hardship category’ on the recommendation of the Drug Pricing Committee (DPC) under the Drugs Pricing Policy of 2018.
