ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has started importing low-cost medicines for cancer treatment from Russia. In February 2022, import of medicines was suspended after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but importers have started opening Letters of Credit (LCs) for importing life-saving medicines from Russia after a gap of about five months, importers said.
Local importers are of the opinion that Russian medicines would be available in the market by the first week of August 2022, ending shortage of medicines for cancer patients in Pakistan.
With the new development, importers sound confident that Russian products would be available in the local market by the first week of August 2022, bringing an end to the misery of hundreds of cancer patients and their families.
Importers said that in March 2022 the Russia-Ukraine war put Pakistan’s healthcare system in problem as the import of inexpensive medicines for cancer treatment from Russia was suspended. Consequently, thousands of patients and their families faced difficulties in buying affordable medicines.
“The packages include monoclonal antibodies (MABs), a targeted drug therapy to treat different cancers,” said a local medicines supplier. “The MABs like Trastuzumab, Rituximab and Bevacizumab — all from Russia — are sold at half the price set by Drap [Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan] under its MRP [maximum retail price] mechanism. Unavailability of Russian or inexpensive medicines forced patients to either buy expensive chemotherapy drugs offered by multinational companies or switch to smuggled or unregistered medicines. But better late than never, it’s good that the imports are resuming.”
The situation during the last few months raised concerns and created a kind of uncertainty about the supplies of key medicines among the patients. For long-term and durable solutions, healthcare professionals seek permanent and long-term arrangements from the government.
