PESHAWAR: The Association of Physicians of Pakistani-descent of North America (APNA) has expressed concern at the high prices fixed for the COVID-19 vaccines in Pakistan and appealed to Prime Minister Imran Khan to take note of the issue and review the decision.
“The Association of Physicians of Pakistani-descent of North America wishes to express its concern at the high prices fixed for the COVID-19 vaccines in Pakistan. According to press reports, the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) has approved a pricing formula allowing forty percent mark-up (profit) for importers of the vaccines plus an additional fifteen percent mark-up for retailers,” APPNA stated in a letter addressed to PM Imran Khan. The News obtained a copy of the letter that APPNA secretary Dr Arshad Rehan, a cardiologist from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, confirmed to this scribe.
There are widespread reports that some of influential people in the government had successfully exploited the situation and planned to mint money in the pandemic. Quoting media reports, APPNA said the DRAP has approved a pricing formula allowing forty percent (40 percent) mark-up (profit) for importers of the vaccines plus an additional fifteen percent (15 percent) mark-up for retailers. As per this formula, the price for two doses of the Sputnik-V vaccine has been fixed at Rs. 8,449 and that for a single dose of the Cansino Biologics vaccine at Rs. 4,225, APPNA wrote in the letter.
“This fifty-five percent margin of profit for essentially a life-saving treatment in a poor country cannot be justified by any means. APPNA is concerned that in a country where 30-40% people live below the poverty line, this price gouging and inflated prices for the COVID-19 vaccines will make these beyond the reach of a very large proportion of the populace,” it explained and raised the issue after reports that certain influential people in the government were planning to exploit the pandemic and make money. The US-based Pakistani physicians said that as vaccines are thus far the only hope for controlling the COVID-19 pandemic, the results of leaving hundreds of millions of people unable to afford them will be catastrophic.
The letter said that human tragedy must not be allowed to be used for profiteering. “APPNA appeals to you to urgently review the situation yourself,” the Pakistani physicians stated in the letter. APPNA believed that the government should itself import the vaccine on an emergent basis. “It is best positioned to negotiate favorable rates with the manufacturers. Ideally the government should make the vaccine available to all the people free of cost. If the financial situation of the country however precludes that, then it should be made available to the population
at no more than cost. Subsidies should however still be provided to the poor,” they maintained.
The physicians said that the federal and provincial governments in Pakistan have huge human resources available in their health departments, suggesting that they should utilise their resources for delivery and administration of the COVID-19 vaccine to the public.
The physicians noted that medical student volunteers can also be recruited for the effort, ie vaccination.
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