ISLAMABAD:
The Senate’s standing committee on interior has directed the health ministry to fire officials found to be involved in colluding with pharmaceutical companies for illegal benefits.
An investigator of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Hazrat Ali informed the senate panel chaired by Senator Muhammad Talha Mehmood that the health ministry registered thousands of companies over the past two years without ensuring compliance with the set criteria for maintaining the quality of drugs. He said that former director-general, health, Dr Rasheed Jumma had authorised two pharmaceutical companies, Berlex and Danas, to produce 10,000 kilogrammes of ephedrine, which was inclusive of export quota for Afghanistan and Iraq.”
Both companies sold the quantity produced for domestic consumption, violating the condition set by the ministry. Officials of the ministry confirmed that the firms had earned illegal profit by selling the drug in the local market. Senator Sughra Imam said that it was alarming that some government officials had been found to be involved in the sale of spurious drugs for easy money. The Senate panel directed FIA officials to submit a detailed report to the committee without delay.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 24th, 2011.
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