The ongoing economic crisis in Pakistan has badly hit the healthcare system, where patients have been struggling to get essential medicines. The lack of forex reserves in the country has affected Pakistan’s capacity to import the required medicines or the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) used in domestic production.
As a result, local pharmaceutical manufacturers have been forced to slash their production as patients suffer in hospitals. Doctors are forced to not perform surgeries due to the shortage of drugs and medical equipment. As per Pakistani media reports, the operation theatres are left with less than the two-week stock of anaesthetics needed for sensitive surgeries, including those for the heart, cancer, and kidney.
The situation might also result in job losses in hospitals in Pakistan, further increasing people’s miseries. The drug makers have blamed the financial system for the crisis in the healthcare system by claiming that commercial banks are not issuing new Letters of Credit (LCs) for their imports.
Pakistani medicine manufacturing is highly import-dependent, with almost 95 percent of the drugs requiring raw materials from other nations, including India and China. For most of the drug manufacturers, the imported materials have been held up at the Karachi port due to a shortage of dollars in the banking system.
The drug manufacturing industry has said that the cost of making drugs is constantly increasing due to rising fuel costs, transportation charges, and the sharp devaluation of the Pakistani rupee.
Recently, the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) called for the intervention of the government to prevent the situation from turning into a disaster. However, rather than taking immediate steps, the authorities are still trying to assess the quantum of the shortage.
Drug retailers in Pakistan’s Punjab have said that government survey teams carried out field visits to determine the shortage of crucial medicines. The retailers revealed that the shortage of some common but important drugs is impacting the majority of their customers. These medicines include Panadol, Insulin, Brufen, Disprin, Calpol, Tegral, Nimesulide, Hepamerz, Buscopan, Rivotril, etc.
Earlier in January, Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers’ Association (PPMA) Central Chairman Syed Farooq Bukhari stated that 20 to 25 percent of pharmaceutical production is currently stalled, according to The Express Tribune
