Red flag on 'spurious' medicines purchase

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Sindh Assembly has ordered an audit of the Provincial Health Department's medicine procurement worth billions of rupees amid concerns of purchase of sub-standard medicines. The Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) has been directed to provide technical staff to the Director General of Audit, Sindh for the audit.

The PAC meeting was held in the committee room on Monday with Nisar Khuro in the chair. The meeting reviewed the audit paras of the Sindh Health Department for the 2018 and 2019. Committee members Qasim Siraj Soomro, Taha Ahmed, Rehan Rajput, Secretary Health Rehan Baloch, and other officials attended the meeting.

The meeting raised a question about the the mechanism for medicine procurement and the criteria for awarding contracts to companies.

Health secretary informed that medicine procurement is done through a procurement committee via tendering process. The PAC ordered an audit of the health department's medicine procurement worth billions of rupees.

During the discussion on audit paras related to the chief drug inspector, committee member Qasim Soomro asked about the actions taken against unregistered and substandard medicines and why medical stores, found selling such medicines, were not sealed.

Chief Drug Inspector Hafeez Tunio informed the PAC that drug inspectors, along with FIA teams, had taken action against spurious and unregistered medicines in Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, and Mirpurkhas, and 25 FIRs had been registered during the past five months. However, he stated that the authority to seal medical stores lies with the District Health Officers (DHOs).

Health secretary informed the PAC that the Quality Control Board of the department gives approval for lodging FIRs against those found selling unregistered and spurious medicines, and the board has been made fully functional.

The PAC ordered the sealing of medical stores found selling substandard and unregistered medicines and cancellation of their licences. The PAC also directed the department to intensify the crackdown against such medicines across Sindh.

Furthermore, the PAC ordered an inquiry into the performance of drug inspectors across the province. The officials of the health department failed to provide audit records worth Rs6 billion, to which PAC expressed displeasure and directed the records be provided within two months.