Petition: Registration of firms dealing in syringes

KARACHI:

The Law Foundation has taken the government to court over delays in registering firms that import medical syringes.

The constitutional petition names the federal health secretary and the health ministry’s director-general.

The petitioner argued that a Lahore High Court bench ordered the government to register the importers and exporters of disposable syringes but time and again, an extension was given. Hundreds of people are contracting diseases as they reuse syringes or use substandard ones.

On Tuesday, the petitioner’s counsel, submitted that disposable syringes are imported to the province mainly by the Pakistan Chemists and Druggists Association (PCDA).

Chief Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi said, “In the circumstances of the case, we would add the Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association, the PCDA and the Sindh health secretary as respondents.” The bench asked the petitioner to file an amended title. The office was ordered to fix the hearing date after two weeks.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 13^th,  2011.