Abstract
Pakistan has experienced major turbulence in terms of drug pricing over the course of the past two years, with prices jumping as high as 260% of their original. A country with a large majority of population living in low socioeconomic settings, with an out of pocket healthcare finance system, non-availability of state sponsored healthcare insurance, and this price hike meant that treatment was now a privilege, rather than an essential commodity. However, the government faces serious backlashes from pharmaceutical industrialists when it retorts to appeasing the general public. With a moderation and regulation in drug pricing comes an acute shortage of medicinal availability across the country. Could this be blackmail? Or a genuine need for a price hike to optimize profits from the sale of medicines made from imported chemicals?
