Inflated prices: Peshawar markets run out of essential drugs

The Express Tribune

Commonly used drugs are fast disappearing from Peshawar markets as the ‘medicine mafia’ is hoarding medicines and selling them in black markets for considerable profit. A number of medicines such as Actifid, including Actifed DM syrup and Actifed cold, Sancos cough syrup and Augmentin injections are no longer available. Meanwhile, prices for medicines such as Hydraline, Augmentin, and Palmonale, which had disappeared from markets for some time, have increased by 30%. Silicose used by blood pressure patients is only available in the black market on double the retail price. Thyrosin (a tablet which most patients have to take for life once prescribed), Lexotanil and Thioredoxin are also nowhere to be found. Chief Drug Inspector of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Sabir Ali, told The Express Tribune that a drug pricing committee has been formed at the federal level to stipulate and approve the prices of medicines. The price of a particular product depends on its availability, he said. The inspector said that pharmaceutical companies are being encouraged to sell their products directly to the retailers in an attempt to prevent hoarding, which creates an artificial shortage in the market. Waheed Ullah Wazir, a medicine retailer, said: “Pharmaceutical companies have contracts with wholesalers who hoard products.” He also alleged that “Doctors prescribe foreign medicines that are not usually available in the market. This creates a problem for patients.’ Dr Saoodul Islam, a general physician at the Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH), acknowledged that doctors prescribe medicines that are often not locally available. “International brands provide doctors with benefits to sponsor their products so they prescribe them instead of their local alternatives.” Islam too, said that a ‘medicine mafia’ is responsible for the shortage of medicines in the city. Nasirullah, a medicine wholesaler, refused to accept the blame. “The government imposes taxes and prevents us from increasing the retail price,” he said, adding “That is why many of us stop supplies.” He claimed that pharmaceuticals are responsible for hiking up prices and withdrawing products.