Substandard injections: DG health, other officials remanded in drug scam

Employees of the health directorate protest against arrest of their superiors.


Our Correspondents April 04, 2013
"It is an injustice to arrest high-ranking officials without giving them any prior notice and is an insult to this noble profession," Assistant Director Health Services Said Rehman. PHOTO: FILE

PESHAWAR:


The court of Judicial Magistrate Mohsin Abbas on Thursday sent the three Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) health officials accused of purchasing and supplying substandard interferon drugs into police custody for a two-day remand.


Interferon is a recognised pharmaceutical therapy for hepatitis B, C, cancer and multiple sclerosis.

On Wednesday the K-P Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) arrested three key people in the drug scam after getting permission from K-P Chief Secretary Ghulam Dastagir Akhtar.

Director General Health Services Dr Sharif Khan, former Hepatitis control programme director Dr Ghulam Subhani and assistant junior clerk Mubarak Shah were arrested for allegedly acquiring 1.6 million vials of substandard interferon and distributing them in government-run hospitals. The health department purchased the medicine used to treat hepatitis C for approximately Rs250 million from Pharmedic, a pharmaceutical company.

Protest

Allegations of involvement and their consequent arrest in the said scam have triggered a strike in favour of the accused. Employees of the health directorate and secretariat protested outside the court room of Judicial Magistrate Abbas on Thursday.

The employees announced they would not work while Khan, Subhani and Shah remain in custody.  They also voiced their intention to convince all doctors and health sector employees in the province to suspend health services in their respective organisations in protest.

“It’s illogical to arrest these important officials from their respective offices despite the fact the case is already pending in the Peshawar High Court and nothing has been proven against them. How can they be arrested without proof of guilt?” demanded an employee of the health department.

“It is an injustice to arrest high-ranking officials without giving them any prior notice and is an insult to this sacred profession – this incident should not have taken place like this,” said Assistant Director Health Services Said Rehman at the protest.

“There will be a complete strike in the directorate to show solidarity with the director general and we will not come to work until all of them are not released,” he said.

Sequence of events

In 2011, then PHC chief justice Ijaz Afzal Khan visited various provincial prison hospitals and directed drug inspectors to check the quality of medicines available there. The court took suo motu notice of the supply of substandard medicines when the drug inspectors found several medicines to be ineffective.

On February 6, 2013 the Peshawar High Court unveiled reports of embezzlement in the provincial health department indicating billions of rupees were spent on the purchase of substandard hepatitis C virus (HCV) therapeutic drugs. Headed by PHC Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan, the bench directed the anti-corruption department to further probe the matter.

On March 6, ACE Director Syed Fayyaz Ali Shah informed the court that interferon vials worth Rs5 million were currently stored in different hospitals. Shah told the court ACE was ready to apprehend the suspects, which included high-ranking officials, but were waiting for a green signal from K-P Chief Secretary Ghulam Dastageer.

On March 13, Fayyaz Ali Shah submitted a preliminary inquiry report to the court. The report stated six deaths were suspected to be caused by the spurious injections and sought time to examine the bodies.

On April 3, the three indicted officials were arrested.

On Thursday, ACE produced Sharif, Subhani and Shah before the court of Judicial Magistrate Mohsin Abbas who gave the officials into police custody for a two-day physical remand.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 5th, 2013.

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