ISLAMABAD: Increasing tax on sugary drinks can help generate significant revenue and reduce hospital expenditure.

The common man is not affected when tax is increased on sugary drinks as these are not necessary items and their consumption only causes diseases which increases hospital expenditure.

This was stated by experts at a session organised by Pakistan National Heart Association (Panah). Pakistan is ranked third in the world in terms of prevalence of diabetes as 33 million people are affected by the disease.

Panah’s General Secretary Sanaullah Ghumman said that for the last four decades his association had been working to save the lives of people, especially the youth, from heart and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

“Sugary drinks are one of the major causes of these diseases. Every section of society including the media and health professionals are raising their voices to reduce consumption of these harmful drinks,” he said.

Munawar Hussain, consultant Global Health Advocacy Incubator, said excessive consumption of sugary drinks was a growing threat to health and economy.

“Increasing tax on sugary drinks is a triple win for the government, as policy intervention does not cost anything to the government, helps reduce disease burden and hospital expenditure, and will increase revenue,” he said.

“Government should consider increasing tax on all types of sugary drinks including carbonated beverages, energy drinks, flavoured dairies, juices (including fruit juices), iced tea, squashes and syrups for better outcomes of the policy. Another important consideration is that water and unsweetened milk should not be taxed.

“We further request the government of Pakistan to increase federal excise duty on sugary drinks to 50pc so that the consumption of sugary drinks is reduced,” Mr Hussain said.

Dr Khawaja Masood from the Ministry of Health said non-communicable diseases were on the rise in Pakistan.

“We fully support fiscal policies aimed at reducing the consumption of sugary drinks. Research shows that sugary drinks are among the major causes of obesity leading to type 2 diabetes, heart diseases, cancers and many other chronic diseases” he added.

Published in Dawn, March 31st, 2023