The business of spurious drugs is flourishing in the markets of Islamabad and Rawalpindi right under the nose of health authorities, as billions of rupees’ worth imported drugs are available in the markets at cheap prices.
Spurious drugs including multi-vitamin pills are available in Pakistan vary in packing, color and font styles while original drugs available across the globe have a uniform packaging, color and font style.
A health official seeking anonymity told Pakistan Today that in the absence of effective post-marketing evaluation of imported drugs, a large number of spurious drugs were being sold under the counter. He said, “Take an example of ‘Centrum (plain, silver, gold),’ an imported multi-vitamin made in the US for different age groups. A pack of 150 tablets is available in Pakistan for Rs 800 to Rs 1200 whereas in Canada the price of 50 tablets is $28 (Rs 2380). How is it possible that the countries in which these tablets are manufactured have a lower price than the price in Pakistan, where it is imported?” Similarly, he quoted other examples: Viagra which is available for $7 in the US, is available in Pakistan for Rs 100. Cylaris available for $ 13 is available in Pakistan for Rs 150 to Rs 30, he said. He said these facts pointed fingers at the performance of the health department, as these spurious drugs are being sold under the counter and on recommendation of physicians. These medicines were injurious to health owing to the use of ineffective, harmful and sub-standard chemicals in their production, he said. He claimed that these drugs were manufactured locally with modern machines in tribal areas or were smuggled from China. While raising question on the performance of the registration board, health department official said, “Last year, in a meeting of the registration board, approval was given to 4000 drugs in one go. How was this possible for them to evaluate the effectiveness of 4000 drugs in two to three hours?” he said. A few months ago, National Assembly member Dr Azhra Fazal, in a meeting of National Assembly Standing Committee on Health, raised the issue that a medicine named ‘F A Tareen’ was easily available in the market and the youth was being badly affected by its use.
She said that FA Tareen, a relaxant produced locally and used for sexual amusement, was not health friendly and its extensive use could be life threatening. She told the committee that the quota of this medicine could be given in grams but the former health minister Makhdoom Shahabuddin had given the quota of raw material used for such medicines is in kilos instead of grams. Dr Sania Nishtar, a health expert, told Pakistan Today, “Linked to this is the issue of spurious drugs, which is a major problem in Pakistan, as there are many backstreet clandestine production facilities producing counterfeit medicines, which is the core problem.”
She was of the view that all this was happening because of the weaknesses in the country’s drug regulatory capacity.
