No action taken to rein in drug prices
Cost of 350 medicines has skyrocketed
PHOTO: FILE
LAHORE:
The government is yet to take any effective measures to reverse an unprecedented increase in the prices of medicines that has left them out of the reach of a large number of people amid rising inflation and unemployment in the country.
Prices of more than 350 drugs, especially life-saving medicines, have risen up to five-fold in recent years. In particular, an injection which has yet to be confirmed as being effective in curing coronavirus is being sold for up to Rs500,000.
The provincial government, health ministry and other authorities concerned appear to have no interest in ensuring availability of medicines to all citizens. Action in this regard by the officials concerned has not been witnessed in recent weeks. Pharmaceutical companies attributed the increase in the drug prices to a rise in the prices of their imported ingredients n the international market.
A couple wearing protective masks walk along a market, as the outbreak of coronavirus disease continues, in Karachi, Pakistan December 29. Reuters/File
ISLAMABAD: While the federal government on Thursday decided to establish Covid-19 vaccine administration cells across the country, pharmaceutical companies suggested that licences should be issued for local manufacturing of the vaccine as it may take years to import jabs for the entire population of Pakistan.
Meanwhile, 2,475 new Covid-19 cases and eight deaths were reported in a single day as the total number of active cases reached 34,537 in the country.
According to a statement issued by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), a special session on vaccine availability and efficient administration was held on Thursday to mull over national vaccine strategy.
Covid vaccine trials to be held at Karachi s Expo Centre
Dr Pechuho reviews arrangements for facility at the site
On November 7, prize distribution of agriculture exhibition will be arranged at Expo Centre at 5:00 pm
PHOTO: ONLINE
KARACHI:
The Sindh government announced on Thursday that it would be setting up a vaccination facility at the Expo Centre in Karachi, selecting it as one of the sites where the clinical trial of a coronavirus vaccine developed by Chinese CanSinoBio would be carried out.
Phase-III of the trial was initiated in Pakistan on October 13, 2020, after the Ministry of National Health Services Regulation and Coordination received formal approval from the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP).
Covid vaccine trials to be held at Karachi s Expo Centre
Dr Pechuho reviews arrangements for facility at the site
On November 7, prize distribution of agriculture exhibition will be arranged at Expo Centre at 5:00 pm
PHOTO: ONLINE
KARACHI:
The Sindh government announced on Thursday that it would be setting up a vaccination facility at the Expo Centre in Karachi, selecting it as one of the sites where the clinical trial of a coronavirus vaccine developed by Chinese CanSinoBio would be carried out.
Phase-III of the trial was initiated in Pakistan on October 13, 2020, after the Ministry of National Health Services Regulation and Coordination received formal approval from the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP).
Cabinet panel decides to pre-book Chinese vaccine
NCOC firms up immunisation management system as nationwide Covid death toll tops 10,000
A vial of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine in a surgery in Wolverhampton, Britain December 14, 2020. PHOTO: REUTERS
ISLAMABAD:
A special cabinet committee on Covid Vaccine decided on Wednesday to pre-book a Covid-19 vaccine developed by China’s state-owned Sinopharm company and linked its decision to the emergency-use approval by the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP).
The decision comes as the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) developed a National Immunisation Management System (NIMS) to ensure efficient supply chain, management and administration of the vaccine.