THE prolonged suspension of injectable saline production in government facilities is another example of government negligence towards public health. The Institute of Public Health, established in 1948, has produced injectable saline and vaccines but suspended the production for modernisation and renovation of its plant in 2020. The institute director admits that the future of the plant is uncertain as no steps are taken to renovate and resume the operation of the injectable saline unit. Twenty-three employees of the plant, meanwhile, get paid without doing any work. In 2023, the state-owned Essential Drugs Company Ltd announced that it would start producing saline in a month, but it has never happened. Without a functional government producer, the injectable saline market is totally controlled by the private sector. During the dengue outbreak in 2023, private-sector suppliers created an artificial crisis of injectable saline for profits. In the end, the public is doubly burdened, first, with taxes for an idle plant and, second, with the inflated cost of injectable saline. Public health campaigners allege that the government deliberately keeps the plant non-functional to serve the private interests.
Public health campaigners have time and again urged the government to keep the drug market stable and ensure affordable access of people to medicines. In August, the High Court directed the government to set and publish minimum prices of lifesaving drugs. In April 2024, the High Court issued a similar directive asking the Directorate General of Health Services to take effective steps against an arbitrary increase in essential drug prices. Prices of commonly prescribed drugs for chronic diseases, such as antibiotic tablets, insulin and injections for diabetics, have been arbitrarily increased in recent times. In July 2022, the government decided to increase prices of 19 generic drugs of 53 brands as the producers threatened to stop production unless the prices were increased. Health rights activists consider the failure of the government to control the drug market a primary problem and say that drug producers cannot set prices for life-saving medicines. The drug administration has also failed to regulate sales of drugs and to control the quality of drugs manufactured, resulting in a high prevalence of spurious medicines on the market.
Making safe drugs available for citizens at affordable prices is a fundamental requisite for any public health system, but the government has so far appeared negligent. The government must, therefore, must take immediate steps to make the injectable saline production plant at the Institute of Public Health functional. At the same time, it should immediately review the role of the drug administration in price control, quality control and regulation of drug sales as it is evident that it has failed to serve the interests of people.
