The caretaker government on Wednesday notified a hike in the prices of at least 146 life-saving drugs.

A notification, issued regarding the increase, showed that the price of several medicines including cancer, vaccine, and antibiotic drugs were hiked.

It is pertinent to mention that the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan had sent a summary to the government to increase the prices of 262 drugs.

However, the interim government increased the prices of 146 medicines, while saying that pharmaceutical companies will increase the prices of 116 drugs included in the list.

The government had allowed pharmaceutical companies to increase prices themselves by deregulating drug prices.

As such, the government will only control the prices of 464 drugs included in the National Essential Medicines List.