By Zaman Bajwa
Islamabad: A request by pricing section of the drug regulatory authority of Pakistan (Drap) for fixing prices of 1,000 alternative medicines has been rejected by the secretary drug pricing committee citing a lack of rules and regulations.As a result, the sale of allopathic drugs under the name of alternative medicines at 10 time higher rates will continue as long as the new rules and regulations are not prepared. However, drop chief executive officer (CEO) Dr Mohammad Aslam claimed that preparing new regulations and fixing the prices was a lengthy process. But he said efforts were being made to address the issue at the earliest.Last month, secretary health Khyber pakhtunkhwa Mohammad AbidMajeed wrote a letter to federal secretary ministry of national health services ayub sheikh about the sale of unregistered medicines in the market. The letter stated that the promulgation of the drap Act 2012 had given a legal cover to over the counter (OTC) drugs an alternative medicines , which were previously not defined as drugs.The OTCs are medicines sold directly to the consumers without a prescription from a health care professional. Alternative medicines ate drugs other than the allopathic.The letter alleged that a number of fictitious firms were selling so called food supplements, neutraceuticals, infant and baby formulae and herbal medicinal products in the market. From January to june 2016, the letter added 534 nutrition/alternative medicines were analysed by the provincial drug laboratories and found containing ingredients that caused damage to the health of consumers. It was requested that rules and regulations should be formulated to address the issue.The health and OTC department of drap then decided to address the issue by fixing the prices of around 1,000 alternative medicines .However, secretary drug pricing committee abdulghafar in a letter stated that the issue raised by the KP health department was examined but since drap was empowered only to regulate prices of allopathic and biological drugs the prices of alternative medicines cannot be fixed unless new regulations were notified. The letter suggested amendments to the drap act 2012 to regulate the prices of alternative medicines. A doctor from the Pakistan institute of medical sciences (Pims) requesting anonymity said it was a serious issue as allopathic medicines were sold in the name of herbal products but at very high rates due to which a number of companies stopped manufacturing allopathic drugs.“cod liver oil is given to children, women and elderly people as it is good for the bones. However, the bottle of cod liver oil which was available for Rs150 has disappeared from the market and the same oil is being sold at Rs 1200 under the name of herbal oil, he said.“surbex T (vitamin) is available for Rs 50 in the market but the same capsules are being sold for Rs 1500 under the name of alternative medicine.†When contacted DrAslam told Dawn that in some countries prices of alternative medicines were not fixed and this practice was following in Pakistan. “however, now we have decided that not only the prices of alternative medicines will be fixed but they will also be regulated. We are taking all the stakeholders onboard to avoid any confusion in future,†he said.In reply to question, DrAslam agreed that drugs were sold at exorbitant rates in the name of alternative medicines and there was  a need to check them. “Moreover, we have rejected 2000 applications filed to register alternative medicines which are either manufactured in Pakistan or imported,†he said.-By Zaman Bajwa