‘Crackdown on counterfeit medicines launched across KP’

PESHAWAR: Director General of Drug Control and Pharmacy Services Dr Abbas announced a joint crackdown with the Federal Investigation Agency against counterfeit medicines in the province, highlighting the Drug Court Abbottabad camp’s handling of 19 cases related to Drug Act violations.

In a handout issued here on Thursday, he revealed that a total of Rs4,190,000 in fines were imposed across various cases, with one-day imprisonment also enforced in accordance with the provisions of the Drug Act.

Providing further details into the province-wide crackdown on fake medicines, Dr Abbas said that in coordination with the FIA, drug inspection teams from Charsadda conducted operations in drug sale outlets at Shabqadar bazaar.

Two premises were sealed, and five seizures were made for violations of different provisions of the drugs act, 1976. Additionally, seven suspected samples were collected for analysis at drug testing laboratories.

Dr Abbas highlighted a significant seizure at Zubair Medical Store in Mansoori Pul, where a substantial quantity of Punjab’s Calamox, Omeprazole, and Hydrocortisone injections were recovered.

Following an investigation, the main supplier, Ahmad Shah, was identified, and government stock was seized from his son. Suspected spurious Cefixime capsules under the brand name of Medxime were also confiscated and sampled for further testing.

Furthermore, the Drug Control team in DI Khan seized and sampled suspected Spurious Dettol Antiseptic Liquid 50ml from Quetta General Store located inside Ustrana Hotel Chowkgala DIKhan. Moreover, unregistered drugs were recovered from the premises.

In another operation, government MCC and unregistered drugs were confiscated from Mumtaz Medicine Company in Zafarabad DI Khan.

FIRs have been lodged with the FIA DI Khan region against the culprits as directed by the Provincial Quality Control Board, Peshawar.