KARACHI: The Sindh province including Karachi have been facing severe shortage of life-saving medicines for the last couple of months.
Sources said that vaccines for kidney disease, hepatitis A, rubella, measles and mumps have disappeared from the market.
Similarly, tetanus immunoglobulin, used for the treatment of tetanus, and anti-rabies immunoglobulin, used for rabies prevention, were also unavailable in the market.
Health experts said that tetanus immunoglobulin is crucial for preventing tetanus infections, which result in a 30 per cent to 40 per cent mortality rate if vaccination was not administered in time.
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Similarly, they said, anti-rabies immunoglobulin was essential alongside rabies vaccination to prevent the disease.
Meanwhile, talking to Geo News, Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers’ Association Chairman, Tauqeerul Haq said that pharmaceutical companies were producing some medicines locally while the issue of imported medicines would soon be resolved.
He said that importers have expressed concerns, stating that they have submitted price adjustment requests to authorities.
Importers said that they have informed DRAP authorities regarding the pricing issue, and if the prices were not fixed, they will not be able to import the medicine.
Hospital authorities confirmed the shortage of life-saving medicines in government hospitals for the past several months.