Substandard medicine: Multinational firm recalls Paracetamol
Popular cure for fever found to be substandard upon testing.
KARACHI:
In a first for Pakistan, a multinational firm has ordered the recall of a drug after it was declared substandard by the central testing laboratory.
The firm has also sent a circular to doctors, chemists and pharmacists to discontinue the sale of the drug, Disprol (Paracetamol), and return its stock to the company.
Paracetamol is very popular among mothers, who turn to it when children have the common cold. Reports say that around 500,000 of these drugs are freely available at hospitals, pharmacies and general stores.
The company has also published ads in newspapers to facilitate and expedite the recall.
The ad warns people not to use the drug of batches number 1072 to 1116. In total, 45 batches have been found to be substandard, and each batch has one million tablets.
The medicine, which has the generic name Paracetamol, was purchased in bulk by Peoples Primary Health Institution, from where its samples were taken for chemical analysis last month.
They were analysed at the central drug testing centre, following which the analyst of the federal government, Dr Obaid Ali, issued the report which revealed that the drug was substandard.
The federal health ministry also took notice of the report, and set up a committee headed by Dr Qaiser Awan Khattak to investigate the matter further.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 23rd, 2011.
In a first for Pakistan, a multinational firm has ordered the recall of a drug after it was declared substandard by the central testing laboratory.
The firm has also sent a circular to doctors, chemists and pharmacists to discontinue the sale of the drug, Disprol (Paracetamol), and return its stock to the company.
Paracetamol is very popular among mothers, who turn to it when children have the common cold. Reports say that around 500,000 of these drugs are freely available at hospitals, pharmacies and general stores.
The company has also published ads in newspapers to facilitate and expedite the recall.
The ad warns people not to use the drug of batches number 1072 to 1116. In total, 45 batches have been found to be substandard, and each batch has one million tablets.
The medicine, which has the generic name Paracetamol, was purchased in bulk by Peoples Primary Health Institution, from where its samples were taken for chemical analysis last month.
They were analysed at the central drug testing centre, following which the analyst of the federal government, Dr Obaid Ali, issued the report which revealed that the drug was substandard.
The federal health ministry also took notice of the report, and set up a committee headed by Dr Qaiser Awan Khattak to investigate the matter further.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 23rd, 2011.