ISLAMABAD:
The Senate has constituted a special committee to help establish the much-delayed Drug Regulatory Authority (DRA) and, Healthcare and Drugs Regulatory Authority (HDRA) at the federal level. The committee will review the drug pricing, licensing, registration and most of all, the quality of medicines.
Senator Kulsum Parveen, who has been appointed chairman of the five-member committee, told The Express Tribune that the first committee meeting, with participation of all provincial health secretaries and relevant departments’ officials, will be held on December 1.
The meeting will discuss terms and conditions of the DRA and HDRA and also enact a legislation to help bring uniformity in issues related to drugs, both at the provincial level and federal level.
Parveen said that since the devolution of Ministry of Health on June 30, there has been no regulatory body at the federal level monitoring the licensing, registration, regulation, quality and prices of drugs.
She blamed the “lethargic attitude of the provincial governments in granting regulatory powers to the federation (under Article 144 and 147)” as the main reason behind the failure.
She said the lapse has also given rise to various unlicenced players distributing spurious medicines in the market, which are “playing with the lives of innocent citizens”.
The senator said that since the devolution of the health ministry, drug inspectors on the federal level have lost their powers and can no longer assess the quality of medicines.
“If, for instance, there is an outbreak of bird flu, there is no authority in place to control it,” she added.
Parveeen said that since the devolution the situation of healthcare has worsened instead of improving.
Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Associations (PPMA) Chairman Muhammad Asad said that taking full advantage of the absence of a monitoring body, many drug retailers have set their own prices of drugs and are openly selling them in the market. Besides this a large amount of spurious drugs are being circulated, he said.
It is very unfortunate, he added, that the government did not do any homework to secure the pharmacy business.
The cabinet secretary was asked several times to establish DRA on the federal level after the devolution of health minister, but no one paid any heed, he said.
“Due to the government’s negligence the illegal drug sellers are spreading their wings in the country,” Asad added.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 29th, 2011.
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