KARACHI, Nov 23: Sindh government efforts for a downward revision in the prices of medicines were unlikely to bear fruit any time soon due to the ‘apathy’ of federal health authorities, said a source in the health department.

A health official disclosed that after receiving a well-documented report on soaring prices of drugs from the Sindh health department in the last week of September, President General Pervez Musharraf had desired that authorities concerned the ensure a downward revision in the prices at the earliest.

The report, which was prepared under the supervision of former provincial health minister Syed Sardar Ahmad and sent to the president, prime minister and national forums, stated that the lower and middle income groups were not in a position to afford life-saving drugs in the because of their arbitrarily fixed high prices. The report, supported with some facts and figures, further stated that a number of medicines were even beyond the reach of patients from the higher income groups. In view of growing concerns among a large section of society, it had become all the more necessary to ensure a downward revision in the prices of medicines.

Unfolding the details of the report on the soaring prices of imported and locally-manufactured medicines, the former health minister had blamed a faulty system of drug pricing, unethical practices by doctors who prescribe the medicines of expensive brands, and the greed of pharmaceutical firms.

The fact that remarkable difference in the prices of the products of same generic persisted not only between the multi-national manufacturers but also between the local pharmaceutical companies called for a change in the approach of manufacturers and the price fixation team of the government, health officials said, underlining the need for provision of urgent relief to the common man.

It was learnt that President Musharraf had asked the federal health ministry to arrange a meeting of stakeholders, including those from the private sector, to revise the prices of medicines. The prime minister secretariat too, asked the ministry to implement the earlier directives issued by the president and sought a complete report of steps taken in this regard by Oct 15.

However, sources said, no meeting of stakeholders or provincial health authorities had been held in Sindh so far.

About seven weeks back, the health ministry had told the Supreme Court that a drug price survey had already been conducted enabling the ministry to work out a policy for rationalisation of drug prices.The survey covered 42,000 brands of some 120 molecules being used in over 80 districts. Prices of the commonly used molecules being sold under different brands varied from 20 per cent to 400 per cent whereas the difference for the drugs in less demand was huge i.e. ranging from cent per cent to 1,100 per cent, it observed.

When asked about the factors involved in price variations, a medicine dealer in the city said the prices of the same raw material imported from various countries differed which cast its effects on the retail price. He was of the view that the government could check the variation in prices of imported raw material to regulate the prices of drugs being sold in the local market. However, he said when the high-priced raw materials were preferred over the inexpensive raw materials of the same quality available in the international market and adopted as the basis for the determination of price, it was unfortunate that the prices of medicines, particularly the life-saving drugs, could not be regulated.