Islamabad: Nearly 40 pharmaceutical companies in Pakistan have said they are unable to continue production citing unavailability of raw material and delay in their cases seeking price increase.

The health ministry, however, has held out an assurance that the government would make sure there was no shortage of medicines in the country, reports Dawn News.

As many as 40 companies informed the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Drap) on Monday that they are going to halt production in a week due to the unavailability of raw materials.

Moreover, they claimed that their cases seeking an inc­r­e­ase in prices under the ‘har­dship category’ were not being decided by courts.

Under the hardship category, companies may file court cases to increase prices if production cost goes beyond the maximum sale price.

Pakistan Pharmace­u­tical Manufa­c­turers Association chairman Syed Farooq Bukhari, while talking to Dawn News, said PPMA had demanded a 28.5 percent across-the-board increase in prices.

“In 2018, one US dollar was of around Rs140 but now, due to depreciation of rupee, that value has increased to around Rs270. Because of this situation 40 companies have written letters to the health ministry and Drap that they will not be able to continue production of medicines [after] one week,” he said.

Pharma Bureau executive director Ayesha Tammy Haq, while talking to Dawn, said the companies were facing severe shortage of dollars.

“It is unfortunate that the government has dollars to import vehicles but LCs (letters of credit) are not being opened. A number of containers are not being cleared. We have run out of raw material. Moreover, there is massive devaluation of rupee as it has dropped by Rs60 against the dollar in just one month,” she said.