By S.H. Hasan
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PPMA) has warned the government of shutdown of all drug manufacturing units in the country, if the prices of medicines are not increased in a week. Pharmaceutical companies have decided to stop production over the unavailability of raw materials and delay in their cases seeking price increase.
The association, comprising 40 pharmaceutical companies, has issued a warning in a letter, written to the ministers of finance and health, and the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP).
On the other hand, Pakistan’s health ministry has pledged to ensure there was no shortage of medicines in the country.
In the letter, the PPMA has demanded an immediate increase in medicine prices, threatening closure of all pharmaceutical factories across the country “in a week” if the government did not increase the prices.
The association members said the courts had not decided their cases in which they had sought price increases under the “hardship category” that provides for legal actions by businesses to raise prices if production costs exceed the maximum sale price.
PPMA Chairman Syed Farooq Bukhari said the association had demanded a 28.5 percent across-the-board increase in medicine prices.
“In 2018, one US dollar was valued at around Rs140, but now, due to the depreciation of the rupee, that value has increased to around Rs270.
Due to this situation, 40 companies have written letters to the health ministry and DRAP, that they will not be able to continue production of medicines (after) one week,” Mr Bukhari told the media.
Pharma companies are witnessing a severe shortage of dollars, says pharma bureau executive director Ayesha Tammy Haq.
“It is unfortunate that the government has dollars to import vehicles, but LCs (letters of credit) are not being opened. A number of containers are not being cleared. We have run out of raw material. Moreover, there is a massive devaluation of the rupee as it has dropped by PKR 60 against the dollar in just one month,” she said.
The industry blames Covid-19 pandemic for the exorbitant hike in the raw material.
“Unfortunately, the pharmaceutical industry suffered a devastating blow as prices of the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients i.e. raw material used in the manufacturing of drugs, increased exponentially in the international market since the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic. Simultaneously, factors of production like cost of fuel, electricity, freight charges and packing material witnessed an unprecedented increase during the same period,” the letter reads.
The letter further states that the pharma sector repeatedly pleaded with the Shehbaz Sharif-led government and DRAP to take corrective action by allowing inflationary changes in the maximum retail pricing of medicines, which if ignored could lead to collapse of the sector.
However, the government did not take any measures in this regard, the letter regretted.
“It has become completely unsustainable to manufacture medicines and ensure their availability beyond the next seven days,” the letter warns.
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