Harmful banned drugs are selling under the nose of the health authorities in the medical stores of the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad though their registration has been cancelled. In March this year, the drugs registration board members, led by the DG health, representatives from the ministries of law and justice, livestock and dairy development, the provincial health departments, Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers’ Association, Pharma Bureau and Pakistan Chemists and Druggists Association, in a crackdown on substandard, spurious and harmful drugs, cancelled the registration of 283 drugs that had been reported to have cardiac toxicity. These 283 drugs contain ‘dextropropoxyphene’ which, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), has been banned due to its adverse side effects internationally. The WHO has banned this painkiller called dextropropoxyphene on the ground that it causes cardiac abnormalities which could lead to dangerous irregularities in heart rhythm and cardiac arrest. During a survey of the medical stores in Islamabad and Rawalpindi conducted by Pakistan Today, it was found that ‘algaphan’, ‘femidol’ and ‘doren’ tablets that contained dextropropoxyphene-plus paracetamol were easily available to everyone.
A chemist in Islamabad, on the condition of anonymity, told this scribe that they knew those drugs were banned, but there was a great demand for them so they were selling them without any fear of crackdown or stern action by the health authorities. On the other hand, Drug Inspector Sheikh Ansar, talking to Pakistan Today, said the WHO had banned the drug called dextropropoxyphene because its use with wine could threaten life. “Pakistan is signatory to the WHO, so we also cancelled the registration of 283 drugs containing dextropropoxyphene while instructions are being issued to manufacturers stop manufacturing these drugs forthwith besides withdrawing the existing stock from the market,” Shiekh Ansar claimed. When contacted, Pakistan Pharmacists Association (PPA) President Khalid Saeed Bukhari said that dextropropoxyphene was a painkiller used to treat acute and chronic pain and had been in use for over 40 years, either independently or in combination with other medicines such as paracetamol, in the form of tablets, suppositories and solutions. “It is used to treat mild to moderate pain; it can also be used to ease pain before, during and after an operation,” he said. He, however, admitted its use remained controversial; many physicians prescribed it for a wide range of painful symptoms as well as for the treatment of diarrhea; many others refused to prescribe it, citing its highly addictive nature and limited effectiveness while some studies proved it was no more effective than aspirin as a painkiller.
