Scientific symposium: VC comes down hard on drug companies

Warns doctors against the ‘neo-colonialism’ of big pharma.

LAHORE:

“New costly drugs and medicines aren’t helping us. Multinational companies seem determined to dose the population with as many simultaneous prescriptions as possible, as long as it generates profits for them. Ethics are nowhere adhered to in the pharmaceutical industry these days: it is all about money, profits, power and control,” said University of Health Sciences (UHS) Vice Chancellor (VC) Prof Malik Hussain Mubashar while inaugurating the second Annual Scientific Symposium at the Post Graduate Medical Institute (PGMI), Lahore General Hospital on Wednesday.

The VC said that there was a near-total disregard for patient health. This was a case of aggressive marketing gone bad. There are tours being sponsored abroad and lavish dinners for doctors. He cautioned doctors against the ‘neo-colonialism’ of the pharmaceutical industry and advised them not to allow gifts to influence their clinical judgment.

Highlighting the importance of information technology and computing, Prof Mubashar said that it could revolutionise the practice and teaching of medicine. He added that non-invasive cancer screening techniques, such as virtual colonoscopy, were being developed, which might eliminate the need for costly, uncomfortable invasive procedures.

The PGMI principal, Prof Tariq Salahuddin, said that the institute had so far produced 3,000 graduates and it would soon start doctorate programmes in various disciplines. He further said that the 2-day symposium would have 14 workshops and 22 researchers would present their original work. The keynote speakers included Prof Farrukh A Khan (Medical Ethics is the need of the times in our society), Prof Ejaz Ahsan (Research is key to success in medicine), Prof Khawaja Sadiq Hussain (Islamic perspective in medical practice) and Prof Rashid Latif Khan (Changing trends in medical education).    

Published in The Express Tribune, February 9^th, 2012.