Network supplying spurious drugs busted

LAHORE: Punjab Minister for Primary and Secondary Healthcare Kh Imran Nazir said that a network involved in the theft and sale of medicines was arrested in Lahore and Faisalabad, adding that medicines were seized from a warehouse in Kot Radha Kishan and sent to the lab for a test report. Four employees have also been arrested in the operation.

The health minister shared this information while addressing a press conference along with FIA Punjab Director Sarfraz Virk after seizing spurious and unregistered medicines in a joint operation.

The provincial health minister said that a joint operation was launched in collaboration with FIA and Anti-Narcotics Force against spurious medicines at more than 1,100 places.

Kh Imran Nazir said that Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has zero tolerance on the manufacturing and sale of spurious medicines and a crackdown has been launched across the province in collaboration with FIA against unregistered, substandard and spurious medicines. He said that it is his mission to eliminate this network and provide quality medicines to the people. He said that the mechanism devised for the production and sale of medicines will be implemented across the province. He said that after assuming the portfolio of health, he has taken action in more than a dozen places so far and the makers of spurious medicines will be brought to justice at every cost.

The minister assured that the standard of the government hospitals will be improved so that even the elite can get their treatment at these hospitals. He said that the reforms made in the health sector during the caretaker government will be carried forward.

On this occasion, Director FIA Sarfraz Virk said that on the instructions of Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, Jihad has been declared against spurious medicines across the country.

Implementation of ‘health for all’

Post Graduate Medical Institute Principal Prof Dr Muhammad Al-Fareed Zafar Thursday urged the administration and health professionals of Lahore General Hospital to implement the vision of the Punjab Chief Minister "Health for All" to ensure best healthcare facilities to patients.

During his visit to the LGH Emergency, the PGMI principal asked the MS and Deputy Chief Nursing Superintendent to review all departments including emergency twice a day to remove medical difficulties of patients. He instructed the managing doctors to keep in touch with the patients and their families during their shift and follow the open door policy.

He said no compromise would be tolerated on sanitation issues.

The PGMI principal asked doctors, nurses and paramedics to treat patients with a smile. MS Prof Dr Narat Sohail, Prof Jodat Saleem, Prof Qamar Ashfaq Ahmed, Deputy Chief Nursing Superintendent Shazia Kausar, AMS and DMS were also present on the occasion.