Substandard drugs: PHC rejects bail requests of implicated officials

Former DG Health Dr Muhammad Ali Chohan arrested from court.

PESHAWAR:

The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Friday turned down bail requests of health officials allegedly involved in supplying substandard hepatitis C (HCV) curing injections to government-run hospitals, with one of the officials arrested from the court room after his plea was rejected.

The scam surfaced on February 6 when the court took notice of sub-standard interferon vials worth Rs250 million being supplied to government-run hospitals and directed the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) to probe the case and arrest those responsible.

While probing the case, the ACE arrested the then Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa director general (DG) Health Dr Muhammad Sharif, former hepatitis C control programme project director Ghulam Subhani and a storekeeper identified as Mubarak Shah. Another suspect, former DG Health Dr Muhammad Ali Chohan managed to obtain pre-arrest bail.



However, on Friday PHC Chief Justice (CJ) Dost Muhammad Khan was informed the ACE’s probe was incorrect.

Chohan’s counsel Malik Ghulam Muhiuddin informed the court the vaccines had been manufactured by a pharmaceutical company called Pharmadic, but were tested by a laboratory which was owned by one of the company’s competitors. Muhiuddin termed this to be against the law. On May 9, the court had issued an arrest warrant for the owner of Pharmadic.

Sharif’s counsel, advocate Ishtiaq Ibrahim said the project to control HCV was launched in 2009, but his client assumed the post of DG health in 2011. He added Sharif had no connection with the scam and all relevant records were also available on the case file.

While defending Shah, the storekeeper’s counsel Abdul Fayaz argued the interferon vials had been returned to the company due to a shortage of space in the store, claiming a storekeeper called Noman was responsible as opposed to his client.

Additional Advocate General Neelam Khan said a total of three HCV projects were launched in 2009 with Rs52.58 million transferred to a joint account. She said the whole process was under Muhammad Ali Chohan’s observation, adding Pharmadic had been given a certificate upon completing the supply of injections, which was signed by Dr Shareef.



After hearing the arguments, Justice Khan turned down the bail requests for Sharif, Subhani and Shah and also refused to extend Chohan’s pre-arrest bail. The former DG health was arrested from the court room and handed over to the ACE.

Meanwhile, the court accepted the bail request for Qaumi Watan Party MPA-elect Arshad Umarzai, the brother of Alamzeb Umarzai who died in April 2010. Arshad Umarzai had been arrested over allegations of being involved in a targeted attack on former Awami National Party provincial minister Bashir Khan Umarzai’s convoy while it was en route to a court hearing in Charsadda on January 12.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 25^th, 2013.