Stemming the rot

Consumers can get better and safe medicines if we turn to modern technologies

A glut of counterfeit medicines and spurious products continues to sweep into the country’s markets and create deadly hazards for millions of Pakistanis. The country has neither forgotten nor washed off the stains from the scandal of fake stents and contaminated heart medicines. At this point it is important to consider whether Pakistani authorities have the wherewithal to crack down on fake drugs or will we be forced to fall back on the World Health Organisation for intervention like we did in 2012? The WHO drug safety update served as a timely warning to governments and pharma industry regulators about the threat of contamination.

The dilemma in Pakistan is that people prefer to buy counterfeit or substandard products to genuine or branded products due to their cheap price, accessibility and availability in the market. The average consumer, for instance, just does not know about the manufacturer or the quality of the product and ends up using expired, degraded or substandard products. Consumers can get better and safe medicines and devices if we can find ways to turn to modern technologies.

The widespread use of spurious, misbranded or adulterated drugs is reflective of lax standards in the medical community, the pharmaceutical fraternity and the related licensing and supervising authorities. We cannot even begin to scratch the surface of the content of medical and surgical practice with unnecessary surgeries, and, increasingly, the deals of everybody, including patients, with health insurance companies. Before public trust erodes further in the health system due to the consumption of substandard drugs by patients, we need to take concrete action.

One possible way is to reduce by a drastic amount essential medicines as per the WHO List of Essential Drugs. We must applaud ethical behaviour and design systems so that not only is good rewarded but it is also seen to be rewarded.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 8^th, 2018.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.