The policies of the government related to the pharmaceutical companies has caused a shortage of insulin —a medicine that helps the body turn food into energy and control blood sugar and blood pressure—in Pakistan, as red tape forced investors in the pharmaceutical sector to wind up operations in Pakistan, reported Business Recorder.

Eli Lilly—a multinational pharmaceutical company that has been supplying medicine in Pakistan— stopped its operation due to supply chain issues as it wanted to supply medicine in Pakistan from India, where the company has a manufacturing service.

The company sent a request to the government six months ago, seeking permission to redirect its route, but it has not received permission yet which indicates that December’s shipment might be the last consignment of medicine to Pakistan. This would trigger a severe shortage of medicine.

Pakistan has the third highest number of diabetic patients following India and China where nearly 34 million or 26.7 per cent of the adult population suffering from the condition. This is much higher than the world’s average of one out of 10 people. The current neglect from the government’s side could trigger a national emergency.

However, this ignorance led the pharmaceutical to a shrinking circle, the country which had been working with over 30 companies, relying on four only for drug manufacturing.

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In a current scenario shows stakeholders as helpless as the industry is sure to regress even further because many of them have packed up and left the country.

The Drugs Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) is responsible for fixing the prices of medicine in view of ongoing problems and currency rates, but it did not review the prices over the years which pushed many companies to bankruptcy. As a result of the said problems medicine including lifesaving ones, disappearing from markets.

Officials of related industries idealize Bangladesh’s policies which they believe are friendly for the pharmaceutical sector self-reliant.

It’s because of such policies that the country now boasts of having two insulin manufacturing plants; one set up by Eli Lilly and the other by Novo Nordisk.