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Power shortage hitting pharma industry: PPMA chairman

* Says industry facing difficulties in life saving medicine production * ‘Industry should be exempted from load shedding’

ISLAMABAD: The current energy crisis has badly affected the production of the pharmaceutical industry in the country, which has an export target of around $ 1 billion by 2010, said Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PPMA) Chairman (North) Muhammad Asad on Tuesday.

He said the pharmaceutical industry was facing difficulties in production of life saving medicines due to gas and electricity load shedding. Asad said that he had already informed the departments concerned about the situation and he hoped the government would play its role in boosting the growth of pharmaceutical sector as it was facilitating flour mills under the current power crisis. He said the industry should also be exempted from load shedding like flour mills that were being provided electricity without any interruption.

In view of prevailing energy shortage, Asad said, the pharmaceutical sector be exempted from load shedding as the local companies were manufacturing almost all medicines and drugs, even for serious diseases like cancer and hepatitis. He said, “Shortage of power is not only affecting our production, but creating hardships for patients as well. The industry utilises gas to run its boilers and it is beyond our imagination that why the department concerned was pursuing gas load shedding.”

He said the progress of local medicine manufacturing companies was satisfactory and it was meeting 70 percent requirements of the country. Asad said the government considered the pharmaceutical industry an export-oriented industry that was profitable for the country. However, he added, “How can the industry meet medicine needs of the people and achieve export targets under power load shedding.”

Highlighting the future prospects of the industry, he said that pharmaceutical exports were increasing rapidly at the rate of 20 percent annually and the industry was expected to attain 40 to 45 percent growth in manufacturing and exports by 2010.

He believed the Middle Eastern, ASEAN and North African countries were lucrative markets for Pakistan’s pharmaceuticals, since Pakistani medicines were recognised for their high quality. “Our products have a good reputation in the world and our prices are also low as compared to our competitors. Importers prefer to buy Pakistani products,” he said. The PPMA chairman said the substantial growth of the pharmaceutical industry was providing employment opportunities in fields of printing, packaging and sales. app

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