On directions of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, the Punjab Health Department on Thursday accelerated the campaign against illegal trade of spurious drugs in order to eradicate heinous crimes from the province. Drug inspectors inspected 22,945 medical stores and pharmacies during the last five months and collected 10,896 samples for laboratory analysis. Out of the samples, 238 were found sub-standard while 59 were spurious.
This information was disclosed in a briefing to Punjab Health Secretary Jehanzeb Khan. The secretary was informed that during the crackdown, 845 medical stores were sealed while 2,258 challans sent to provincial as well as the district quality control board and 43 first information reports (FIR) were also lodged. The Punjab additional secretary (tech) informed that expired medicines were also recovered from 193 medical stores. He said that the health department sent 1,351 cases to drug courts, which imposed fine of Rs 10 million on people involved in such crimes. The official informed that 131 cases were registered against illegal advertisements by quacks.
The health secretary directed officers that stern action must be taken against such elements who are playing with human lives and the anti-spurious drug campaign should continue without any pressure or greed. He also directed officers that a monitoring system be evolved to assess performance of drug inspectors. The health secretary reiterated that all resources will be utilised to clean the province from the illegal business of spurious and substandard drugs.
