ahore’s public sector hospitals are currently faced with an acute shortage of medicines, especially life-saving drugs, putting the healthcare system in the provincial metropolis under serious threat.

The government denies a shortage.

A surge in dollar rates and shortage of funds allocated for the hospitals are said to be the main factors for the prevailing crisis.

An informal survey conducted by this scribe indicates that a large number of patients admitted in public hospitals such as Mayo, General, Ganga Ram, Lady Aitchison, Jinnah, Kot Khwaja Saeed, and Munshi are unable to get treatment because of a critinal shortage of medicines, including injections, drip sets and items of emergency use. Even essential materials required for carrying out some tests aren’t available in some hospitals.

The gravity of the situation can be judged from the fact that anti-pyretic and anti-inflammatory drugs such as paracetamol and ibuprofen, commonly prescribed to treat various kinds of fevers and pains, are in short supply. Moreover, medicines for gastrointestinal issues such as Gaviscon, Entamizole, Enterogermina, Metodine, Metrozine, Gravinate and Biflor are also hard to find.

There is also a serious dearth of medical equipment including stents, pacemakers, implants and several kinds of surgical equipment. Hospitals are left with a limited stock of X-ray films, which could lead to a grave crisis as the films are needed ahead of many surgeries. They are also used for computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans.

It is pertinent to note that X-rays are crucial to diagnosis of bone fracture, sciatica and hard tissue damage. They are the basic consumables of radiology and emergency departments.

Majid Khan, a resident of Muhammad Nagar, relates that his father-in-law was suffering from acute sciatica pain. The doctors asked him to get an X-ray scan. But when he took the patient to the hospital, to their horror a long queue of patients awaited them. After being stranded for about two hours, they were told that the X-ray could not be done because the lab had run out of film.

Pakistan’s medicine manufacturing industry is mostly import-based. Almost 95 percent of the medicines produced in the country are manufactured with imported raw materials. “If the raw materials aren’t imported, it is obvious that manufacturing of medicines will suffer,” says Nawaz, the general manager of a pharmaceutical company.

Saira, who is based in Johar Town, has a similar story to tell. She says that her husband got injured in a road accident and was rushed to Services Hospital’s emergency ward. He was bleeding profusely. But, to her shock, no life-saving drugs were available at the time. The patient’s attendants were asked to buy medicines from outside the hospital. These included some highly expensive medicines.

Earlier, talking to a delegation of the Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PPMA), Caretaker Minister for Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education Dr Javed Akram had claimed that there was no shortage of drugs in any government hospital in the Punjab.

He had added that any recommendations by the association would be placed before the caretaker chief minister.

Dr Akram said the government and pharmaceutical manufacturers were on the same page to ensure an uninterrupted supply of medicines to the hospitals.

Requesting anonymity, a deputy medical superintendent (DMS) in Mayo Hospital said the hospital was experiencing a shortage of medicines as well as equipment, especially items used in surgery and anaesthesia, due to which the patients are facing serious problems. “We are trying to resolve the issue as quickly as we can, but it requires lots of money. All our efforts come to a halt when we are provided the budgets to achieve our target,” he says.

hmed Nawaz, the general manager of a pharmaceutical company, says that a foreign exchange shortage has resulted in the letter of credit (LC) restrictions being faced by the companies while trying to import the raw material for medicine synthesis.

For several months, no bank has opened an LC for raw material import “because of verbal instructions” given by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), he claims. Nawaz says that Pakistan’s medicine manufacturing industry is mostly import-based. Almost 95 percent of the medicines produced in the country are manufactured with raw materials imported from abroad. “If the raw materials aren’t imported, it is obvious that manufacturing of medicines will suffer.”

The writer is a senior journalist. He can be reached at ahsanzia155@gmail.com