Shortage of paracetamol worsens in Lahore amid hike in Dengue cases

LAHORE: An artificial shortage of all brands of paracetamol has been created across medical stores in Lahore in the wake of rising dengue cases in the provincial capital, ARY NEWS has learned.

The government has been claiming to fulfill the need for paracetamol however, medical stores have denied the claim saying that the government was not providing them with paracetamol from its stock.

“It is a lie that government is providing us with the Panadol,” they said adding that they receive 10 packets of Panadol against the order for 60 packets.

The patients and their families are also facing difficulties in the provincial capital to get access to medicine meant for curing Dengue-related symptoms. “It has been days since we are not able to access the medicines used to cure Dengue,” one of the families said.

The owners of the medical stores have also claimed that even the alternates of paracetamol are not available in the market.

On November 13, DRAP head Dr. Asim Rauf has issued a letter to provincial offices of the authority, directing strict action against any shortages and hike in the price of paracetamol.

The letter said that a rise in dengue cases has led to a manifold increase in the demand for the pill and directed the DRAP officials to activate field staff to ensure its availability to the citizens.

Later speaking to ARY NEWS, the DRAP head said that efforts were underway to ensure the availability of paracetamol pills at the prescribed rate and they had also approached pharmaceutical companies to increase their production.

He said that paracetamol pills are available in the pharmaceutical markets of Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar, Quetta, and Karachi and they had also increased surveillance to avoid any shortages.

“The pill is easily available with separate names across the country,” he said and asked the doctors to create awareness regarding alternate brands of paracetamol to their patients.