PESHAWAR: According to a World Health Organisation (WHO) report, as many as one million people die every year worldwide from using counterfeit medications, a problem particularly severe in Pakistan. In 2012, in one incident alone, 120 people died after taking counterfeit heart medication in Pakistan. Pakistan has established The Drug Regulatory to spot black marketers involved in the drug trade.
Pakistan Pharmacist Association revealed that compared to approximately 4,000 licensed pharmacies in Pakistan, there are 100,000 other illegal merchants selling medicines. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly passed the KP Healthcare Commission (HCC) Act, 2015 and notified it on March 13, 2015. The purpose of the Act is to streamline medical practices and provide effective and quality services to the people.
HCC has replaced the Health Regularity Authority (HRA). HRA was established in 2002 with the same functions but it failed to show any progress owing to the non-existence of rules and regulations. Dr Mohammad Zafar, a former director-general health, who heads the Board of Directors formed under the HCC law, said that the rules and regulations drafted in accordance with the HCC Act 2015, will outlines the scope of work of different doctors and clinics and any violations will result in punishment.
The maximum sentence for spurious drug peddlers and fake doctors would be six months, coupled with Rs 1 million fine. “The HCC will act in complete collaboration with the district government and police to ensure that the violators of the law get punished,” said Dr Zafar.
According to the data provided by the HCC, the city government has sealed approximately 740 different facilities including laboratories, private hospitals, dental clinics, hospitals run by quacks and medical stores without trained pharmacists, in different parts of KP since 2015. The spokesman for District Coordination Officer Peshawar Sajid Khan said that the district government arrested many people who were involved in the fake drug business, adding that every month many people were arrested in various raids and fake drugs were recovered.
He also added that most utility stores were selling illegal sex medicines, with disastrous consequences on health. The Chief Drug Inspector KP, Sardar Afrasyab said that there were around 30 drug inspectors in the entire KP, which was not enough to cater to the needs of hundreds of medical stores in the province. He said the government must recruit more drug inspectors since scarce resources and insufficient security situation had made the matter worse.
The Drug Inspection Team KP has inspected around 8,960 medical stores, out of which 344 stores were sealed between January and June 2015. First Investigation Reports were filed against 15 people.
Ihsan Ullah, the General Secretary Pakistan Pharmaceutical Association, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa said that there was an acute shortage of pharmacists in KP, which had left the health sector in shambles. This was in spite of the fact that every year, 1,000 students graduated as pharmacists from different institutions in KP. The negligence resulted in unnecessary deaths of hundreds of people.
“Last year a pregnant woman died in the Lady Reading Hospital Peshawar because of spurious injections administered to her. These incidents are unfortunately routine in hospitals,” Ihsan added. Senior Minister for Health KP Shaharam Khan Taraki said that the KP government had made the HCC fully autonomous.
“It is a matter of concern that people are playing with the lives of patients. The government is quite clear that no one would be spared if found in such foul activity,” Tarkai added while saying that more drug inspectors and pharmacists would be hired soon.