Impact of national drug pricing policy 2018 on access to medicines in Lahore Division, Pakistan: A pre-post survey study using WHO/HAI methodology

Objective: To evaluate the impact of new national drug pricing policy (NDPP) 2018 on the access to medicines in terms of prices, availability, and affordability.

Design: Two cross-sectional surveys were undertaken before and after the launch of NDPP 2018, using a modified WHO/HAI methodology.

Setting: Four districts of Lahore division, Pakistan. 

Participants: 16 public sector hospitals and 16 private sector retail pharmacies.

Measures: The pre- and post-survey data on prices and availability of Lowest Price Generics (LPGs) and Originator Brands (OBs) of 50 medicines were obtained by visiting the same public and private sector health facilities (n=32). Out of 50, 46 surveyed medicines were from National Essential Medicines List (NEML). Inflation-adjusted median unit prices (MUPs) and median price ratios (MPRs) from 2019 were used for price comparison. Affordability was calculated in terms of number of days’ wages required to get a standard treatment by the lowest paid uns...