After the 18th constitutional amendment’s adoption, the government has failed to develop and maintain a procedure for registration, testing and verification of newly-introduced drugs in the market, said Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) President Dr S Tipu Sultan on Monday during a press conference at the Karachi Press Club. Sultan said health and medical services have always been ignored by the governments of Pakistan, and derisory funds are spent on healthcare provision and health infrastructure, due to which every component of the healthcare system is suffering.
He said similar unfortunate incidents could occur in the future if the Drugs Act of 1976 and the rules framed therein are not updated in line with the World Health Organisation (WHO)’s guidelines. He demanded the government to immediately establish a drug regulatory authority, recall all drugs that do not meet WHO’s criteria, and develop immediate mechanism to deal with emergencies like the Lahore drug scandal. He said it is appalling that four or five drugs were identified when the issue of drug reactions was raised.
“Our laboratories are not competent enough to discover the problem in the Isotab tablets. It was the University of London School of Pharmacy that traced pyrimethamine in Isotab. This has exposed what standards the Health Ministry is following when registering new drugs in Pakistan,” he added.
According to the PMA, “The current issue of drugs and the loss of over a hundred lives could have been avoided if the ministry had been vigilant enough to monitor the standard of drugs.”
The association’s president said another serious example is registration of biological drugs in Pakistan, as insulins, interferons and vaccines are more complex and highly sensitive than other usual drugs.
WHO’s guidelines are being violated in registering biological drugs in Pakistan and posing as a serious threat for patients suffering with chronic diseases like diabetes and hepatitis, he added.
