KARACHI: The Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) has sounded the alarm over a severe shortage of life-saving medicines, including insulin, warning that the crisis is putting millions of patients at risk.
According to PMA, at least 80 essential medicines are unavailable nationwide, with 25 having no substitutes. These include drugs for diabetes, cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and psychiatric illnesses.
The association said patients are already facing serious complications, such as uncontrolled sugar levels in diabetics due to lack of insulin and dangerous infections in transplant patients.
PMA blamed black market profiteering and weak government policies for the crisis, noting that insulin prices have tripled. It urged the government to approve a realistic drug pricing policy, launch a crackdown on illegal markets, and form a powerful task force with health authorities and the pharma industry to resolve the shortage.
The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) was also criticized for failing to ensure medicine supply, with PMA demanding urgent reforms and transparent action.
