ISLAMABAD – Pharmaceutical companies, getting stay order from courts over matter of medicines price hike, have refused to meet Health Minister, while Minister Saira Afzal Tarar has said that pharmaceutical companies can’t blackmail the government, adding that government stance will be heard in court.
Negotiations between 11 pharmaceutical companies and the government could not be held, as 10 out of 11 companies have refused to talk to the government. The government delegation had given time of 10 o’clock, hence pharmaceutical companies delegation did not reach for talks, while Saira Afzal, DRAP DG and Secretary Health Companies representatives continued to wait.
Talking to media outside Parliament House, Saira said that the government called companies groups, in which one group came, but second did not come. The minister said that she already had approached the court.
She said that nine companies are manufacturing hepatitis medicine, while the government has introduced medicine in low price, whereas the regulation did not mean to increase prices of medicines.
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