Public hospitals flooded with substandard medicines

Govt claims it has a strong mechanism to check the quality of drugs

LAHORE: In absence of drug testing labs in the province, substandard and spurious medicines were being supplied openly to public hospitals, however, the health department has claimed that it has a strong mechanism to check the quality of drugs.

Secretary Primary and Secondary Health Punjab Ali Jan Khan said the government has already set up the upgraded testing labs in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Multan and Bahawalpur at par with international standards. He said ISO certification target for DTLs would also be achieved by June 2018 while procurement of equipment for DTLs and recruitment of staff also be completed within three months.

Meanwhile, sources at Mayo Hospital on Wednesday said if one was admitted in any government hospital and was being provided free medicines, then he must be more cautious about his health as substandard and spurious drugs were being supplied openly to these hospitals.

“Unfortunately the health department could not set up any monitoring mechanism to check the standard of drugs in government-run hospitals,” he commented.

He said the health department had already started work to upgrade the central lab at Lahore mental hospital, but it was yet to be completed.

“The malpractice of selling substandard drugs is very much alive and kicking and the government is doing nothing to stop them,” he added. “Just visit the Lohari Gate area of interior Lahore and you will find hundreds of shops0 selling substandard drugs.”

Primary and Secondary Health secretary said a survey of pharmaceutical units in perspective of Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) by the contracting firm would be completed according to the timeline.

When the fake stunts issue came into the knowledge of the government, Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif had directed the health department to upgrade drugs testing labs (DTLs) on modern lines to ensure provision of quality medicines to the people and eradicate fake as well as substandard medicines.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, July 27^th, 2017.