The high price of medicines is causing concern among citizens, who say they are not able to afford their prescription drugs.  

“When the real prescription costs 600 Afs, we need to pay 1,500 Afs,” said Rafiullah, a resident of Kabul.  

“The prices are so high. The prices in single drugstores are two to three times higher” said Baz Mohammad, a resident of Kabul. 

The national union of drugstores said that the enforcement of a new law on the import of medicines also includes a high tax and this has caused a surge in the prices of medicine.

“Around $4,000 to $5,000 in taxes are being charged. When we buy medicine from every country, we need to pay their own currency,” said Asadullah Kakar, head of the union.

However, the Afghanistan Food and Drug Authority said that new law has yet to be enforced and that those who sell the medicines at a high price will be held accountable.  

Javid Hajhir, a spokesman for the Afghanistan Food and Drug Authority, said that the price of the medicine has surged globally.  

“We are recently witnessing around a 37 percent increase in prices of medicines globally. We deny the claim that the new Afghanistan Food and Drug Authority enforced a new law which has caused an increase in prices of the medicine, because the new law has been sent for approval to the leadership,” said Javid Hajhir, a spokesman for the Afghanistan Food and Drug Authority. 

According to the Afghanistan Food and Drug Authority, the smuggling of medicines is also a challenge which has yet to be addressed.  

This comes as the World Health Organization (WHO) in an earlier report said that this year more than 17 million in Afghanistan are in need of medical assistance.