CM says spurious drugs crackdown to continue

Shahbaz expresses dissatisfaction with Provincial Quality Control Board’s performance

LAHORE:

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said on Friday the crackdown on those involved in manufacture and sale of spurious drugs would continue.

The chief minister was addressing a meeting through video link at Civil Secretariat. “The factories manufacturing spurious and substandard drugs will be sealed. Those in the evil trade deserve no leniency,” he said.

Sharif said the government had amended the Drug Act-1976, under which those dealing in spurious and unlicensed medicines could be imprisoned for 10 years and fined Rs5 million.

The meeting reviewed the pace of action against manufacturers and sellers of substandard medicines. The chief minister approved setting up of the Punjab Drug Authority. The authority would be fully autonomous, he said.

Sharif ordered that the final draft of the authority and its organisational structure be presented to him in 14 days. “No one will be allowed to play with people’s lives. The province will be purged of spurious medicines.”

The chief minister announced that the manufacturers maintaining good quality and standards would be encouraged. He said four task forces had been constituted for taking action spurious drugs across the province. He asked those to perform their duties without any discrimination.

Sharif asked the authorities to regularly inspect medicine manufacturing units. The chief minister expressed dissatisfaction with the Provincial Quality Control Board’s performance. He ordered that its working be improved. He directed the prosecution secretary to conduct a forensic audit of the board’s performance and submit a report to him. He said good practices in other regional countries should be pursued to improve the board’s efficiency.

The chief minister called for making an effective mechanism for sending samples of medicines abroad for inspection. He said scope of the drug monitoring system should be extended to all divisional headquarters. An effective accountability system was imperative to rid the province of spurious drugs, he said.

The chief minister appreciated the performance of Parliamentary Secretary on Health Khwaja Imran Nazir against those involved in the business of spurious medicines. The task forces would have to do their best to end the menace, he said.

Chief Minister’s Adviser on Health Khwaja Salman Rafiq, Chief Secretary Khizar Hayat Gondal, Khwaja Imran Nazir, Qazi Adnan Farid, Abdul Aleem Shah, Nadia Aziz, the advocate general and the Lahore commissioner attended the meeting.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 8^th, 2015.