Pakistan: Fuel shortage and public health threat

People across Punjab region of Pakistan have been scrambling due to shortage of fuel. People in Punjab, which is home to the country’s half of population, are now making long queues at fuel stations. Many empty petrol pumps were spotted in Lahore city. There are only a few fuel stations that are offering petrol in other cities including Gujranwala, Rahim Yar Khan, Bahawalpur, Sialkot, and Faisalabad, local media reports claimed.

Similar situation was also reported early this month across parts of Punjab. People are complaining over price hikes in different commodities.

It has been reported that after people knew about the lack of fuel, they rushed to the petrol pumps, especially the panicked motorists.

At the same time, social media users also took to twitter where hundreds of tweets were shared showing extended queues.

After the emergence of the report, Pakistan’s central government rejected the oil shortage, but the ground reality narrates a different story. The oil companies also said they are running out of oil.

The development comes as Pakistan failed to pay its debt to the IMF and also the country suffered depleting foreign exchange reserves, which were not enough to cover three weeks of imports.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal has reiterated the government’s commitment to formulate export-oriented policies for the public and the private sectors.

In a meeting with leading exporters to review the progress of the exports in Islamabad, the minister said the government will organize a conference soon while inviting the country’s 50 brands to highlight their products.

Iqbal said that time has come to brush aside the political differences and focus on the economy to make Pakistan a ‘prosper’ country, according to Radio Pakistan.

Beside economy, healthcare is also on verge of collapse

Beside the economic issue, Pakistan is also facing problems in health areas. There is an urgent need for prudent measures to confront the impending healthcare catastrophe to stave off the miseries of the ailing people, and to improve the deplorable condition of the country’s healthcare sector, according to Pakistan Today.

The report has also lambasted the government’s health policy and warned that unless immediate action there will be a severe health crisis waiting in the wings.

It is indeed worrying that basic medicines, like Disprin and Panadol, as well as life-saving cardiac pacemakers routinely become unavailable in the market, according to the report.

The agency furthered that the legal procedures, such as delays in opening letters of credit for importers, which is a condition for the registration of all medical imports with the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP), have further escalated the healthcare crisis.

Pakistan’s pharma industry faces imminent collapse

Pakistan’s pharmaceutical industry warned that they would no longer be able to supply medicines beyond the next seven days if the government failed to address the rising cost of production.

Around 40 pharmaceutical companies in Pakistan said that they will be unable to continue production due to a lack of raw materials and delay in court cases seeking price increases, Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PPMA) chairman, Syed Farooq Bukhari, confirmed Gulf News.

Bukhari said that the companies informed the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) and the health ministry of the “critical situation” that may force them to halt production.

The pharmaceutical companies in several letters sent to the health minister, the ministry and DRAP, had warned of the inevitable collapse of the local industry.

It said that the increase in Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients prices, the devaluation of the Pakistani currency, and the lack of action from the Federal Government and DRAP have resulted in a shortage of medicines for the public as the industry is unable to guarantee the continued availability.

Osman Khalid Waheed, CEO of Ferozsons Laboratories Limited had earlier said that the pharma industry “is facing an existential threat and is headed towards a shutdown if the government does not take urgent action.”

Public health threat

Pakistan is lacking medicine at the moment. The health sector is facing shortages of crucial drugs for treating diseases such as cancer, diabetes, tuberculosis, and heart disease due to financial losses. The development is also made due to restrictions amid the economic crisis in Pakistan. Domestic and foreign exports have disrupted due to shortage of foreign currency. DRAP has called on the authorities to change laws and policies to sustain the sector.

Due to severe lack of medical devices and diagnostic products due to import restrictions, millions of people are now at the risk. The central government must prioritize medical imports and the health associations are calling for more and rapid actions to deal with the shortages.