By By Amer Malik
AS many as 76 life-saving drugs, including 52 locally manufactured, are unavailable for quite sometime, reveals a report compiled by the Chief Minister’s Task Force on Drugs.
Around 24 out of a total of 76 life-saving drugs are unregistered for being the smuggled ones while the remaining 52 medicines are not being produced in a quantity required to meet local demand by pharmaceutical companies in the country owing to less profit margins.
Instead, these companies are manufacturing these drugs for export purposes to earn big profits.
With the unavailability of these 76 life-saving drugs, problems for patients have multiplied as these medicines are used to treat people having cardiac, liver and renal and paralysis compalints. It is not known how many patients have lost their lives becuase of the unavailability of these life-saving drugs for last several months. The loss of lives might have been enormous and more lives are at stake presently.
The 52 local life-saving drugs are GSK’s Ventolin Inhaler, Ventolin Solution, Ventide Inhaler, Thyroxin Tab, Migril Tab, Zyloric Tab (300 mg), Panadol Tab and Betnovate Cream, Wyeth’s Mucain Syp and Wymox Cap, Up-John’s Solucartif 500 mg, Solucartif 100 mg, Solu Medrol 500 mg, Solu Medrol 1 gm and Trobicin Injection, Squibb’s Canacart A Injection, Canacart A Tincture and Canacart Tab, Reckitt & Colmann’s Neo Mercazol Tab, Lund Beck’s Denaxit Tab, Elena Pharma’s Cerebrolysine Injection, Augmentin Tab 625 mg, Augmentin Tab 1 gm, Augmentin Tab 375 mg, Augmentin Syp, Augmentin DS Syp, Augmentin Injection, Panadol Tab, Panadol Extra Tab, Flamazin Cream, Ritalin Tab, Vitalux Tab, Longifene Tab, Litrison Tab, Kaomagma Syp, Kaopulgite Syp, Stemicin Tab, Artim DS Tab, Evion Tab, Buscopan Plus Tab, Lantanon Tab, Pyodine Solution, Hepamerz Syp, Hepamerz Sachet, Mondecat Injection, Kenadiol Tab, Betalok Zoke Tab, Filmacid Forte Syp, Nisoderm Lotion, Xaltide Inhaler, Aquamin Forte Tab and Cyclogest Tab.
The 24 smuggled medcines are Anti-Snake Injection (snake bite), Anabol Tab, Questran
Powder 4 gm, Florin F Tab, Isordil Tab for heart attack, Crestor Tab 10 mg for heart attack, Prograf 0.5 mg Cap, Prograf 1 gm Cap, Marevan Tab for heart, Premarin Tab for women harmon disturbances, Winstrol Injection, ACTH for paralysis, Cerebrolysin for paralysis, Vasolastin for paralysis, Cytotec Tab for female delivery disturbances, Deltacortril Enteric Tab, Hydrocortisone Tab for harmon regularisation, Atrovent 500 mcg,/2ml solution for Asthma, Trental 400 mg Tab for hemoreolojik ajan, Danabol DS Tab (Methandrostenolone 10 mg), LevoThyroxin Tab, Agiolax, Plaquanil Tab and Infacol Drops for children.
Talking to The News, Cief Minister’s Task Force on Spurious Drugs chairman Dr Seed Elahi said that the Punjab government would take a strict action against local and multinational companies responsible for the unavailbility of these life-saving drugs.
“The chief minister desires that all these 70 to 80 life-saving drugs must be manufactured locally to meet requirements of patients,” he said. He said that certain medicines, which cannot be produced locally, would be procured at all costs to ensure their sufficient and regular supply to the market.