The government has decided to check the market prices of non essential medicines, and a market survey will be conducted to review non essential medicine prices.
According to DRAP sources, the non essential medicine price check survey is likely to be carried out within the next two months. As part of this process, prices of 400 deregulated medicines will be reviewed, and the survey will be conducted in six cities.
These cities include Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Karachi, Quetta, and Multan. The survey will independently assess the deregulation of medicine prices and examine changes in deregulated non essential medicine prices. DRAP sources said that the survey will compare current medicine prices with previous rates and also assess their sales and availability.
Funding for this market survey will be provided by the Drug Regulatory Authority, while the post deregulation medicine price check survey will be conducted by a private firm. Data will be collected from pharmacies, hospitals, and distributors in both urban and rural areas.
The medicine price survey will be conducted under the methodology set by the World Health Organization. The WHO and DRAP will review the survey report. It is believed that the survey report on 100 non essential medicine prices has already been sent to the Prime Minister. This survey was conducted in six cities in August this year and found that medicine prices had increased by more than 25 percent.
According to sources, the caretaker government deregulated the prices of non essential medicines in February 2024. The purpose of the survey is to assess the impact of deregulation on the prices of high selling non essential medicines, therefore prices will be compared with the maximum retail prices previously fixed by DRAP before deregulation.
