‘It’s the federal government’s fault!’

Looking at it as an excellent opportunity for political point-scoring against the federal government, the Punjab government is exploiting the issue of ‘mystery’ drugs distributed by Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC) in order to establish a provincial drug regulatory authority, Pakistan Today has learnt.
Sources privy to development said Punjab is the only province that had objected to the setting up of a national drug regulatory body due to “vested interests” only to get powers to register drugs, give licenses to pharmaceutical companies and fix prices, none of which are related to quality control of drugs. They further said all protocols regarding quality assurance of drugs have been defined in the Drugs Regulation Act, 1976, with “ample” powers given to provinces to monitor pharmaceutical companies and initiate action against them. They said the Drug Act provides for a provincial Quality Control Board, provincial drug inspectors and provincial drug courts, giving ample powers to the provincial administration.
Per details, Section 9 of the drugs act deals with the provincial Quality Control Board which has the power to “inspect any premises where any drug is being or is to be, manufactured or sold and to recommend to the appropriate authority the cancellation or suspension of the licence to manufacture or sell drugs granted to any person who is found to be contravening, or to have contravened, any of the provisions of this Act, or the rules,
(d) To advise the provincial government on ways and means to ensure quality control of drugs manufactured in the province
(e) To ascertain the names of such directors, partners and employees of the company, corporation, firms or institution who are prima facie responsible for the commission of any offence under this Act or the rules
(f) To conduct annual validation of all instruments in the provincial drug testing laboratories and to recommend measures to upgrade such laboratories, if required”
Moreover, they said Section 18 of the Drugs Act describes the powers of the drug inspectors in detail who are allowed to enter the premises of a pharmaceutical unit, monitor the process or take drug samples for testing and recommend action.
The sources further said the NIR instrument required for complete analysis of a drug is missing at the drug testing laboratories because of “neglect” of the authorities. They said the PC-I of the said instrument was formed to equip the labs but it had fallen victim to bureaucratic neglect. If the labs had that instrument, a detailed analysis of all drugs would have been done and the entire crisis could have been averted, they added.
Health Parliamentary Secretary Dr Saeed Elahi however said the provincial government had been vying for drug regulatory authority which was supposed to be handed down to provinces after the 18th amendment. He said under the current circumstances the government could not register a drug which was an important part. “There are other factors involved too which only the federal government has the power to do,” he said. To a question on the role of provincial quality control boards, he said the same board had sealed the factory.