LAHORE: The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) is still unable to streamline healthcare issues despite clear guidance by Dr Sania Nishtar, nominated for the post of the World Health Organisation (WHO) director by the government.
In a report issued by former health minister Dr Sania some four years ago, she mentioned the challenges confronting the pharmaceutical industry of the country, but the DRAP had been unable to address those concerns making the issues for pharmaceutical industry and patients more complicated leading towards disastrous situation where the government would be unable to solve them and a complete chaos would reign.
Dr Sania in her article titled ‘Towards Improving Governance’ in June 2013 stated, “The DRAP is no different from previous regulatory arrangements of the health ministry… serious issues are emerging as a result of this.”
A top official of a pharmaceutical company, while highlighting the current situation, said that the DRAP was not an autonomous body and frequent interventions from the governments and the Health Ministry had virtually made it a dummy body. “Just when the DRAP issued SRO 1002 to break freeze on pharma prices, the prime minister ordered to take back the decision, resulting in collapse of the DRAP’s spirit, destruction of industry, shortage of drugs, flight of capital and ultimately misery for patients,” he said.
“This is a big concern for the industry and future investment in the pharmaceutical sector,” reasoned the official. “Today, the authority is a complete failure. It has failed to address many serious issues, which include acute shortage of medicines, substandard / counterfeit medicines, no policy making, ill-planning, poor enforcement of even distorted laws, toll manufacturing issues and most importantly pricing issues,” said the official.
Dr Sania in her suggestions had mentioned that the pricing policy needed to be reviewed, as predictability and transparency in the pricing policy and price information systems were essential. “Lessons can be learnt from innovative pricing policy approaches currently being adopted internationally as well as in the region; some of these are relevant in Pakistan’s domestic policy context,” she mentioned.
“In certain cases, price increase has to be allowed to create incentives for manufacturing…several essential life saving medicines are perpetually short as a result of a price moratorium,” she said, adding it was one of the many reasons the multinational pharmaceutical companies were leaving Pakistan.
She, however, had admitted that there was also a black market, which mushrooming of spurious / counterfeit drugs and their channelling into the market. “This needs to be curbed. Transparency and accountability will have to be paramount in the policy formulation process in this regard.”
The industry official said that black marketing was adding to the woes of the already ailing industry. “The industry is struggling to stay afloat. This can be very dangerous for the millions of patients in the country. The government needs to consider the ground realities and extend support to the pharmaceutical industry in the best interest of poor patients,” said the official.
