60 essential medicines vanish from Pakistani markets due to spike in production cost
Jul 21, 2022
Islamabad [Pakistan], July 21 : With the economy shrinking and rising inflation in Pakistan, around 60 essential medicines, including suicide-prevention drugs, have vanished from the market due to the spike in the cost of production, prompting psychiatrists to fear high suicide cases in the country.
"All the brands of Lithium Carbonate are not available in the market for the last two to three months. This is the most effective medicine for the treatment of several psychiatric illnesses including bipolar disorder. If this drug is not made available any soon, many people with the psychiatric illness may commit suicide", renowned psychiatrist and former president of Pakistan Psychiatric Society (PPS) said as quoted by The News International.
Meanwhile, a similar incident was reported where the essential medicines including methylphenidate for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children and clonazepam drops and tablets for epilepsy in children and adults, are not available in the market, according to the physicians and pharmacists.
Several other psychiatrists at renowned Pakistani hospitals also said that the patients with bipolar disorder were moved as the medicines of particular brands are not available in the market, according to The News International.
"There are some alternatives to this medicine but they are not effective as Lithium Carbonate," said Iqbal Afridi, adding, "The pharmaceutical company and the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) were requested to ensure the availability of this drug as hundreds of patients are suffering due to shortage of this important medicine."
Another senior pharmacist Salwa Ahsan from Islamabad said the medicine Lithium Carbonate was not available throughout the country, adding that the cost of the raw materials had gone way up and companies were no more manufacturing them.
"Nine pharmaceutical companies used to produce these drugs but now none of the companies is manufacturing them. Officials in the local pharmaceutical industry claimed over 60 medicines including those used for the treatment of Tuberculosis, psychiatric illnesses, neurological disorders including Epilepsy, anti-depressant medicines, anticoagulants (blood thinners), pain-killers, anti-hypertensive and several other essential medicines are not available in the community pharmacies, The News International reported.
The publication also revealed that several important medicines for the treatment of TB, epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, depression, cardiovascular disease and others were not available as pharmaceutical companies were not manufacturing them due to the high cost of production.
Qazi Mansoor Dilawar, the Chairman of the Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers' Association (PPMA) said that several medicines were not available in the local market and the biggest factor behind the spike in the cost of production of essential medicines is the rupee's devaluation.
He further said that unless the prices of the medicines are increased by 30 to 40 per cent by the government or prices of medicines are deregulated, the unavailability of medicines would continue and feared that more companies could stop manufacturing several more medicines in the days to come.
