KARACHI: The Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) has expressed deep concern and alarm over the worsening situation faced by cancer patients in Pakistan, stating that the chronic shortage of modern therapies and essential oncology medicines has pushed patients towards relying on smuggled and potentially counterfeit drugs.
In a statement, PMA Secretary General Dr. Abdul Ghafoor Shoro said the shortage of life-saving medicines has evolved into a humanitarian crisis, with thousands of patients caught between the suffering of terminal illness and the lack of access to legal and affordable treatment.
“It is unacceptable that patients in a country with a structured healthcare regulatory system are being forced to depend on unregulated sources for survival,” he said, adding that the use of smuggled medicines poses serious risks due to the absence of quality assurance and proper cold-chain monitoring.
The PMA noted that the ongoing scarcity of modern cancer therapies reflects institutional negligence and a lack of proactive planning by the relevant authorities. It stressed that access to healthcare is a fundamental human right and termed the failure to ensure the availability of essential medicines a violation of this right.
The association called on the federal government to take immediate notice of the crisis and raise the issue at the highest level, including with the Ministry of National Health Services and the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan, to restore the supply of oncology medicines without delay.
It also demanded strict accountability of institutions and officials responsible for the shortage, whether due to regulatory delays, import restrictions, or administrative inefficiencies, and urged the government to initiate a transparent inquiry into the matter.
Furthermore, the PMA urged authorities to facilitate the immediate import of modern cancer treatments and provide subsidies to make them accessible to the general public, while taking firm action against those exploiting the crisis by selling smuggled medicines at exorbitant prices.
Reaffirming its support for patients and their families, the PMA urged the government and health authorities to treat the situation as a national emergency, emphasizing that citizens’ lives cannot be compromised due to bureaucratic delays and systemic failures.
