Minister leads raid to capture illegal drugs

LAHORE: Punjab Minister for Primary and Secondary Health and Chairman of the Chief Minister’s Taskforce on Spurious/Substandard Drugs, Khawaja Imran Nazir, along with a squad of drug inspectors, raided a pharmaceutical company.

The officials managed to confiscate a large quantity of illegally manufactured paracetamol tablets and syrup. While talking to the media on the premises, Imran said that the factory was already sealed and its manufacturing licence was suspended. “Even then, the owners used to continue with production of the medicine at night,” he said.



The minister said the drug inspection squad of the Primary and Secondary Health Department raided the factory based on a tip and caught people manufacturing the drugs, red handed. A large quantity of illegal medicine was also confiscated from the scene.

He said two people had been arrested and an FIR registered was against the owners of the factory. Imran added that manufacturing medicines without a licence was a blatant violation of the law and strict action would be taken against the culprits.

The minister said Chief Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif had issued clear instructions to eradicate the illegal business of spurious, substandard and unregistered medicines from the province. Imran continued that the crackdown against the manufacturing of such products would continue to ensure quality drugs for the people of Punjab.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 20^th, 2017.