The government is likely to table the draft Drug Regulatory Authority Bill 2012 in the ongoing session of National Assembly.
“The proposed law seeks to introduce a system to keep a check on the spurious drug trade,” Senator Abdul Haseeb, chairperson of the Senate committee on formation of Drug Regulatory Authority (DRA), told The Express Tribune.
The draft bill was finalised at a meeting chaired by Minister for National Regulations and Services Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan. Attendees at the meeting included Senator Haseeb, provincial health secretaries and stakeholders in the pharmaceutical sector.
According to Senator Haseeb, the DRA will register cosmetics, food supplements and all sorts of medicines, and will monitor all medicines classified as drugs and narcotics.
“The Anti-Narcotics Force will allot quota of the 25 drugs classified as narcotics but used in pharmaceutical industry for medicinal purposes,” he said. “It will be mandatory to supply medicines in air-conditioned vehicles.”
The proposed law will allow the provinces to directly receive medicines in donations from international organisations.
In order to improve efficiency and reduce the workload, each drug inspector will monitor only 15 factories and more drug inspectors will be hired, if needed. Senator Haseeb also suggested updating the Drug Act 1976.
He said the DRA would have a policy board, to be headed by a chief executive of grade 21 bureaucrat, having expertise in the pharmaceutical industry. The board will have 13 members, including provincial health secretaries and a representative from Islamabad and Fata.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 8th, 2012.
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