PESHAWAR – A newly imposed 2.5% tax in the Malakand Division has severely disrupted the regional pharmaceutical supply chain, driving up the prices of essential goods and causing a serious shortage of lifesaving drugs.
Critical Lifesaving Medications Vanish
The impact of the tax has hit local pharmacies and medical stores hard. According to local reports from Swat, the supply disruption has caused a severe shortage of crucial daily medications.
In particular, vital drugs for chronic conditions have completely vanished from the shelves:
- Cardiovascular & Blood Pressure Meds: First, heart patients are finding it nearly impossible to source daily cardiac care drugs and blood pressure regulators.
- Diabetes Management: Next, insulin and oral diabetes medications have become highly scarce across regional pharmacies.
- Chronic Disease Management: Finally, other essential formulas for chronic illnesses are no longer available in local stocks.
Patients Forced to Travel to Other Cities
Consequently, patients and their caretakers are facing immense hardships. Stranded without essential daily doses, families are forced to travel long distances to major urban centers in other districts just to buy basic prescriptions.
In response to the growing healthcare emergency, local citizens, medical associations, and human rights circles have demanded that the government immediately withdraw the 2.5% tax. They emphasize that the administration must restore the tax-free status of the division to bring back smooth, uninterrupted medical supplies before the health crisis worsens.
