Public health: Crackdown against spurious drugs to go on at full speed

Drug inspectors to face inquiries in case of complaints

LAHORE: The crackdown against quacks and companies manufacturing and selling spurious drugs will be expedited, participants at a meeting of executive district officers at the Health Services Directorate General were told on Friday.

They also discussed various measures to improve the immunisation coverage in the Punjab.

The meeting was chaired by Adviser to Chief Minister on Health Khawaja Salman Rafique. Members of the Chief Minister’s Roadmap team said routine immunisation coverage had increased to 70 per cent. They said the android apps had helped monitoring and improved performance within a year. Use of the app E-Vaccs-2, tested in three districts, will be extended to the rest of the province in two months. The app helps the department keep immunisation records of every child in an area. Children are assigned an ID and their immunisation history, guardian’s phone number and photographs are sent to a database developed by the PITB.

The Health services director general directed the EDOs to complete the hiring on vacant slots as early as possible. He said no negligence in polio eradication efforts would be allowed and said districts with a large number of zero dose children will be held accountable. Given the recent positive environmental sample, the Multan EDO was told to ensure extra vigilance in the polio campaign in September.

Punjab Healthcare Commission’s CEO Muhammad Ajmal Khan said curbing quackery was one of main objectives of the Commission. He asked the EDOs to charge violators under the Punjab Healthcare Commission Act. He urged the EDOs to extend all out cooperation to the PHC enumerators. He also said that the EDOs must visit their respective DHQs and personally supervise cleanliness and key facilities.

The health secretary said divisional level task forces headed by commissioners would lead the drive against spurious drugs. He directed EDOs to ensure coordination with drug inspectors and said punitive action would be taken against drug inspectors in case of negligence. Rafique said officials in districts continuously appearing red on key performance indicators will face action. He said there must be drastic improvement before the December stock-taking. He said in case of any issues, the matter should be brought to his attention so he could discuss it with the chief secretary and ensure improvement in KPIs.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 22^nd, 2015.