ISLAMABAD: Senate Standing Committee on National Health Service Regulations and Coordination on Wednesday directed pharmaceutical companies to reduce prices of life-saving drugs.
Earlier, the Senate body expressed reservations over raised in more than 10,000 life-saving drug. The reservations were expressed at a Senate committee meeting held under the chair of Chairman Mian Muhammad Ateeq Sheikh at the Parliament House.
The committee also directed the competent authorities to prepare a strategy against 572 Central for Health Establishment employees who are receiving salaries while sitting at their houses.
The Senate body was told that there was no truth in the news of rise in prices of over 10,000 life-saving drugs. Upon which, the committee chairman asked secretary health to compare the original manufacturing cast with the market price of the medicines.
The As per the director’s prices, the market price of the medicines was thousands of times more than the real manufacturing cost of these medicines.
Following the discloser, the director accepted that the huge difference in prices is due to the recent adjustment of prices.
The meeting while expressing strong reservations directed the competent authority to reduce medicines prices as soon as possible.
Pakistan Medical and Dental Council registrar informed the Senate committee that the council resolved numerous pending cases. He said the council is working to digitalize the affairs of ad-hoc committee of PMDC. The doctors across the country will soon get registered through smart solution instead of getting register while standing in queues.
The registrar further told that currently 240,000 doctors are registered in the country. Of which 66680 doctors didn’t renew their degrees from PMDC. He said PMDC has appealed to the doctors across Pakistan through an advertisement to renew their degrees from the competent authority.
Meanwhile, the committee also expressed reservations over high fees of public and private medical colleges. The committee recommended a uniform fee system in medical colleges.
Senator Dr Ghous Muhammad Khan Niazi, Senator Muhammad Safeeq Tareen, Ayesha Raza Farooq, Dilawar Khan, Dr Asad Ashraf, Dr Ashok Kumar, Dr Sikandar Mandhro, Samina Saeed, Dr Mehr Taj Roghani and other relevant officials attended the meeting.
