Opinion | Editorials
Cap the rising price of medicines
When it comes to basic necessities, such as medicine, there should be a greater effort by the government to ensure that there is a solid price cap - similar to the one on food.
- Gulf News
- Published: 23:39 July 15, 2008
It is understood that with the rise of inflation and the weakening of the dollar, the prices for all sorts of things will also rise. But when it comes to basic necessities, such as medicine, there should be a greater effort by the government to ensure that there is a solid price cap - similar to the one on food.
We learned recently that the sick will have to pay more for their drugs starting October as new prices have been hammered out between the Ministry of Health, distributors and pharmacists. The increase (21.4 per cent for drugs for non-life threatening diseases and 5.85 per cent for drugs for chronic conditions) will affect medicines imported from Europe. This is all the more reason for the country to look into expanding the business of producing medicines. The UAE is already a pioneer in this field, with Julfar considered as one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in this region.
At the end of the day, medical security is just as important as food security.
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