Drug price hike plea dismissed

"The Ministry of Health has rejected demands forwarded by different pharmaceutical companies operating in the country to increase the fixed prices of 10 widely consumed medicines," said Humaid Al Shamsi, MoH Assistant Under-Secretary for Pharmacy and Supplies.

The proposal for revising the prices of these drugs was rejected during a regular meeting of the Drugs Pricing Committee (DPC) held at the ministry's premises under the chairmanship of Shamsi.

Meanwhile, Arab, international and Gulf companies dealing in pharmaceuticals drugs have approached the ministry to fix prices for new drug products, he said.

The ministry has fixed prices for 29 new different pharmaceutical products, including anti acid drugs, anti-pyritic, dialysis fluids, hormones, vitamins and anti-diabetic drugs, he said.

The DPC decided to reduce prices fixed earlier for other drug items. The Committee also declined to fix prices for six other pharmaceutical products, which were categorised as Over-The-Counter or OTC medicines, said the official.

The Pharmacy and Supplies Central Department had earlier decided to scrap a plan to fix prices for OTC medicines. The move was aimed to enable pharmacies to compensate their income in the wake of a ministerial order slashing prices of select drugs.