The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government has vowed to intensify its crackdown on counterfeit and substandard medicines across the province, with Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur directing health authorities to modernize drug testing facilities, strengthen enforcement, and ensure strict vigilance against the menace.
The Chief Minister issued these directives while chairing a high-level meeting of the Health Department on Thursday. The meeting reviewed the six-month performance of the Directorate of Drug Control and Pharmacy Services. Advisor to the Chief Minister on Health, Ehtisham Ali, and senior officials of the department were also present.
Officials briefed the Chief Minister on the mandate, objectives, financial and administrative affairs, regulatory framework, and overall progress of the directorate. According to the report, from January to June this year, the department conducted 6,815 inspections of medical outlets and examined 6,935 drug samples. Of these, 214 were found substandard, 84 unregistered, 69 fake, and 78 misbranded.
During this period, 70 medical stores were sealed and 23 First Information Reports (FIRs) were registered against violators. The authorities also confiscated 944 illegal items. Furthermore, 1,198 cases were filed in drug courts, of which 347 have been decided, resulting in fines exceeding Rs6.1 million.
The meeting was informed that drug testing laboratories are analyzing more than 1,000 samples every month. The government is upgrading existing laboratories to align them with World Health Organization (WHO) standards. Two mobile drug testing labs are already operational and conducting on-site screening, while work is underway on establishing five more mobile labs, in addition to new drug testing facilities in Swat and Dera Ismail Khan.
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