Trust me, I am a doctor

The federal government has decided to introduce a comprehensive drug pricing policy and mechanism to rationalise the prices of life-saving medicines.
Talking to journalists here, Minister for National Regulations and Services Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan on Wednesday said that prices of 92 medicines had been reduced substantially by 400 per cent in some cases. A formal notification to this effect had been issued, she added.
She said the Drug Regulation Authority Ordinance had been amended in consultation with the stakeholders and had been forwarded to the relevant house committee which would be presented in the next session to make it a law. Dr Firdous said a crackdown would be launched within a week on the medical stores selling substandard, spurious and fake drugs in the capital, asking the provinces to follow the Centre. She added it was the responsibility of the provinces to ensure that no fake or spurious drug was being sold there. She further said that another reason to launch a crackdown was to ensure that 92 drugs whose prices had been reduced were being sold at the cut prices.
She said that the Drug Regulatory Authority (DRA) was the prime regulator to fix prices of medicines. She said that necessary amendments had been made in consultation with all stakeholders to enforce Drug Act after approval from the Parliament. She said that necessary changes had been made in the Drug Act 1997 and the bill would be tabled and passed during the upcoming session.
She was of the view that comprehensive legislation was vital for cheaper and standard medicines. She warned of stern action against those companies which had not reduced prices of the medicines. The minister said that hepatitis was still a big challenge for the country and asked the generic and local companies to reduce prices of medicines used for the treatment of this fatal disease. She said that investment-friendly policies were being introduced to fetch foreign investment in the pharmaceutical sector. She was optimistic that investment in this sector would generate job opportunities for Pakistanis.