62 million Pakistanis will be diabetic by 2045,
Staff Reporter- Islamabad
Pakistan’s economy is facing serious challenges where debt and liabilities are skyrocketing. In this situation Ministry of Finance need to be a more strategic in their approach to meet the revenue shortfall. An urgent increase of Federal Excise Duty on sugary drinks can help generate more than 60 billion Pak rupees to meet the revenue short fall. The progressive tax increase can even potentially generate more than 100 billion Pak rupees from sugary drinks. Government need money to spend on rehabilitation activities of the flood affected population.Increasing tax on sugary drinks can help bringing some relief to the low income population through social safety nets. This was said by health and economic experts during a media session organized by Pakistan National Heart Association at a local hotel in Islamabad. Mr. Sana Ullah Ghumman General Secretary PANAH hosted the media briefing session. A large number of senior journalists, reports, civil society representatives, health professionals and economic experts attended the session.
Ex chairman bait ul mal and MPA Punjab malik zaheer abbas khokhar was the cheif guest on the occasion.
Mr. Munawar Hussain, Consultant Food Policy Program at Global Health Advocacy incubator said that sugary drinks are not necessity of the life and its increased cost will not impact common population. However, increasing cost of the fuels, energy and agriculture commodities will directly impact everyone. Similarly, crops standing on thousands of acres have been badly affected in the current rain flooding. Ministry of finance is planning to increase taxes on agriculture commodities and inputs which may add more challenges to the already vulnerable sector and can create serious threats to food security. He urged that Government should prioritize progressively increasing federal excise duty on sugary drinks and passing the pending health contribution bill submitted by Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination to the cabinet. This could generate more than 100 billion pak rupees which may be spent to bring some relief to flood affected population.
PANAH’sGeneral Secretary Mr. Sanahullah Ghaman briefed the participants about PANAHs campaign on the harms of sugary drinks. He said that PANAH is not only working to raise awareness of general public on health harms of sugary drinks but it is also working with policy makers to reduce its consumption so that the burden of diseases can be reduced from the country and we can give a healthy Pakistan to the future generations. He urged Ministry of Finance and IMF for not increasing fuel and energy prices as these will impact the lives of everyone. However, increasing tax on sugary drinks is a win win situation for government where the they can generate revenue and also reduce the disease burden.
Dr. Khawaja Masuood Ahmed National Coordinator at Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination said that beverage industry is growing more than 12% annually and posing serious challenges to public health. The increased consumption of sugary drinks has made this country into a diabetic emergency where every third Pakistani adult is suffering from type 2 diabetes. In addition, more than 10 million people are already pre diabetic. If no immediate actions taken by the government, through a holistic approach, the number of people living with diabetes in Pakistan will increase to 62 million by 2045.
