LAHORE: PML-N President and Leader of the Opposition in National Assembly Mian Shehbaz Sharif has criticized the federal government for increasing prices of over 90 different medicines.
Mian Shehbaz Sharif wrote in his Twitter message that the federal government has increased the price of medicines by up to 262%, which is unfair to the poor in Pakistan.
He said that raising the price of life-saving drugs is obviously malicious and corrupt by the government. The opposition leader said that the government even deprived the people of their right to survive.
Earlier in the day, the federal government approved the price increase of 94 drugs from 9% to 262%. These drugs include those used for fever, headache, heart disease, malaria, diabetes, sore throat and flu.
According to sources, the federal government was forced to raise prices due to various reasons, including insufficient market supply, appreciation of the dollar and rising raw material costs.
Medicines whose prices have increased also include antibiotics, medicines for abdominal pain, eye, ear, tooth, oral and blood infections, skin diseases and postpartum medicines.
Among them, 68 are local medicines and 26 are imported medicines. For the above reasons, price increases are inevitable. However, it is said that until June 2021, pharmaceutical companies are not allowed to further increase prices.
