Profits & healthcare: Expected hike in drug prices
PAKISTANIS could not have feared a worse chapter in the inflationary cycle. Amid the rising cost of living, the drug manufacturers are drawing up a list of medicines whose prices they say should be increased by up to 18pc.
A report in this paper yesterday found the drug-makers determined, with an office-bearer of the Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association warning: “We will go on strike if the government harasses any drug manufacturer.” This tone can partly be blamed on the frustration among drug producers over the absence of government support for their endeavours in the local market as well as, in the case of Pakistan-based companies, their efforts to expand the business abroad. But it is more a story of a fall in profits, which, technically, is always good enough ground for price revision. Only it is more painful in some areas than in others.
After three meetings with the government in less than a month, the manufacturers claim they have got the official nod for the increase. There are also reports the government has committed to announcing the revised rates in 10 days’ time. The officials could well use this interim for bracing for the attack the rise will inevitably expose them to, for this will be yet one more proof of the government’s anti-people policies. The announcement of such an increase will be met with loud protests and will provide the basis for politicking by opposition parties who must remind the government of its duty to provide affordable healthcare to the people.
Even at a popular level, due to the extent of the constant interaction of drug-makers and the people through their agents, the criticism of and plea for price control could draw heavily on perceptions about the large profits that drug manufacturers have been earning. Expert opinion backs the general view that this has been one of the more lucrative sectors in recent times. And expert opinion that mixes the right amount of common sense with economic aspects stresses a reasonable approach. In a country where only a small percentage of the people have health cover, the government is expected to at least try to achieve some balance between market realities and accessibility. One compromise that has been suggested all along requires an official licence for freer production of generic drugs to ensure affordability. The least the government can do is to balance the manufacturers’ list of demands with a list of drugs whose availability on cheap rates it must ensure.
Cashing in: Extortion under TTP guise
WITH the clarity that comes with hindsight, it was inevitable. For several years, now, the TTP and groups associated with it have put to use the dread they inspire to exert pressure on citizens to do their bidding. It has long been known that the TTP raises funds through kidnappings for ransom. It comes as little surprise to learn, then, that criminal elements are now using the TTP’s terrifying reputation to cash in. Some businessmen and professionals in the Islamabad-Rawalpindi area have been receiving threatening letters, purporting to come from the TTP, with the intent of extortion. Some have come as threats: the target had been found guilty of not living by Islamic principles, and needed to pay a ‘fine’. Others have come as appeals for ‘jihad’, instructing the recipient that his cash is needed to support jihadi armies. For obvious reasons, the fear inspired by such missives is such that many victims do not report the matter to the police; but where they have, it has been established that the TTP was not involved. How big these extortion rackets are growing can be gauged from the fact that the TTP, which has never shied away from boasting about its involvement in the most heinous of crimes, felt constrained to announce through its website that its members were not extortionists and that it considers the “wealth of a Muslim as sacred as his life and announce our disassociation from such acts”.
How much sanctity of life the TTP believes in is well known. That aside, though, the matter of extortionists using the TTP ‘franchise’ is a grave matter given the scale of fear it inspires. Businessmen and traders in Karachi have had to become used to regular, sometimes violent, shake-downs over long years. If the iteration noticed around the capital city spreads, the fear-factor will go up exponentially.
While police are doing what they can, potential victims too should be aware that they may be being duped and recognise the importance of reporting to the police.
An unfortunate decision: DPC’s strike call
AT a time when the ulema are expected to counsel restraint and lower tensions, the Defence of Pakistan Council’s decision to endorse a call for a protest day on Friday is unfortunate. Addressing a news conference in Islamabad on Monday, DPC chief Maulana Samiul Haq saw a ‘foreign hand’ in the Rawalpindi riot, demanded a fair inquiry into the tragedy but then went on to support the call by Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat for Friday’s strike. It is not clear in what way a countrywide strike, especially after Friday’s congregational prayers, will advance the cause of sectarian peace or in any way help the inquiry committee discover the truth behind the Rawalpindi tragedy. Pakistanis are living through a nightmare, with the entire country — from the Taliban’s den in Fata to Karachi’s deadly underworld, not to speak of Balochistan — in virtual anarchy and the government’s writ shrinking by the day. The Ashura clash did not remain confined to Rawalpindi; it spread to other towns. This shows that the entire country is a tinderbox. That in such a situation a group of religious and political leaders should call for a countrywide strike amounts to adding fuel to the fire.
Unfortunately, the DPC has not lived up to what its name would ordinarily suggest: a commitment to ‘defending’ the country. Does a call for a countrywide strike in times like these advance its purported cause? The right to dissent is enshrined in the Constitution, and the DPC leaders have every right to enjoy this right. But in potentially explosive circumstances, mustn’t those availing themselves of this right exercise some restraint? The DPC should think twice about going ahead with its plan; the government, too, should try to make it see that this is not a sensible move.