Dramatic medicine price hike irks Ghazni residents

GHAZNI CITY (Pajhwok): Residents of southern Ghazni province complain about a dramatic increase in prices of medicines amid seasonal diseases.

Mohammad Massoum, a resident of Ghazni City, told Pajhwok Afghan News the surge in medicine prices had created problems for the people who were already caught in unemployment, poverty and a host of other problems.

He hit out at the Public Health Department for failing to frame a policy on control of drug prices. Medicine traders were exploiting the current situation, he noted.

“The prices of medicines have surged two to three times compared to the past and patients cannot afford to buy them due to poverty,” Massoum added.

Khan Wali, another resident of the province, also slammed the Public Health Department for turning a blind eye to the dramatic spike in medicine rates.

He claimed: “The price of a strip of almost all tablets has increased from 50 afghanis to 100 afghanis. Those who are not financially stable are unable to buy these medicines.”

He urged the officials concerned to monitor pharmacies and control the rates and quality of medicines.

Nasratullah Latifi, owner of a pharmacy in the provincial capital, told Pajhwok: “There are two reasons behind the increase in prices -- one is that traders cannot import medicines as easily as they did earlier and the other is that the current government charges a higher tax on import of medicines.”

On the other hand, health officials call the increase in drug prices a nationwide problem. They argue the prices of medicines had increased not only in Ghazni, but in the entire country.

Maulvi Mohammad Hanif Misbah, director of public health, said it was difficult to control drug prices because different companies had different rates.

Teams of the Public Health Department were trying to control the quality and prices of drugs as much as possible, he insisted.

sa/mud