Islamabad, 25 September 2020: Pakistan Islamic Medical Association (PIMA) has seriously criticized the rising price of 94 life-saving drugs by the federal cabinet yesterday and said that this step will add on to the miseries of the general public in the last few months because of covid unemployment, rising petrol prices and the daily commodities.
In a statement on Wednesday, President PIMA center Prof Khubaib Shahid said the healthcare deserves subsidy by the government as it was an essential sector. Despite inflation, the drug prices should not have been raised because of its essential nature. We appreciate that the pharmaceutical industry is facing issues, such problems should have been resolved through easing taxes and subsidizing the manufacturing and imports of medicines rather than increasing the prices. Inflation should be addressed by raising taxes on luxuries and non-essential items rather than medicines.
PIMA demands that the government should ensure the free availability of the essential and other drugs as many of the drugs have been short in the market for quite some time. Government should also give health subsidy and meet the financial deficits by other means; and improve the existing health problems on priority basis.
