This refers to the letter posted in your paper today in Editor’s Mail by Mr Shaharyar Khan Baseer. He has advocated reducing the margin of the pharmacies but allowing the pharma industry the price increase it wants.
This is the height of the idiocy and archaic thinking. It is quite apparent that his interest lies in pharma manufacturing and not in its distribution or retailing. I would advocate the elimination of all pharma distributors who get a margin of 10% for distributing the medicines all over the country on behalf of the manufacturers as well as all pharmacies who get 15% for providing the same medicines to the consumer / patient.
The manufacturers supply the armed forces and government agencies directly under a tender system and provide the same medicines to the government agencies at less than 50% of the retail price fixed by the government. The manufactures should be asked under a law to cut down their prices by 50% and bring them at par with the prices at which they supply the armed forces and other government agencies by opening up fair price shops all over the country for the benefit of the consumers. This way the prices will also come down and the general public will also be happy.
This is an equally idiotic and archaic proposal but I see no harm in posting it as we are all losing sight of the real problem. The real problem lies in massive corruption that is a direct result of the heavy control that the government and its various agencies have in heavily regulating and controlling the pharma industry and trade. If the government involvement in fixing of prices is eliminated, the prices will actually come down on their own due to competition as we have experienced in all those countries where the pharma trade has been deregulated. This is the beauty of free trade, competition and deregulation.
IRFAN KHALID
Peshawar
