PHC halts tendering process of drugs procurement

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday stopped the tendering process of procuring lifesaving drugs due to a company blacklisted for allegedly supplying fake medicines and sought a reply from the provincial health department in the instant case.

The orders were issued by a two-member bench of the PHC comprising Justice Syed Arshad Ali and Justice Wiqar Ahmad during the hearing of a writ petition filed by a citizen Waqar Ahmad.Petitioner’s lawyers Shumail Ahmad Butt and Abdur Rahim Jadoon informed the court that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa health department used to purchase medicines worth millions of rupees annually for government hospitals for decades.

They pleaded that under the established procedure, companies proven to have supplied counterfeit or substandard medicines were not allowed to participate in the tender process. They said that multiple orders had been issued at various times to enforce this rule with an objective to prevent adulterated and substandard drugs from entering the supply chain of life-saving medicines.

To ensure quality, they contended that medicines were regularly tested in various laboratories. They said that while this procedure had been in place for the 2024-25 procurement cycle, a crucial clause was removed from the government hospital medicine supply tender.

The removal of this clause, they argued, allowed even blacklisted companies to participate in the process. They maintained that the provincial government had already issued new tenders, excluding the clause, which posed a direct risk to human lives. They pointed out that Punjab, Sindh, and Balochistan provinces had enforced strict policies preventing blacklisted pharmaceutical companies from participating in the procurement of government medicines, as allowing them to do so endangered the lives of millions of people.

The lawyers said that medicine samples were tested in three to four different laboratories before a comprehensive report was prepared, determining whether the medicines were fake, substandard, or of standard quality.

Unfortunately, they argued that some companies previously blacklisted by three different laboratories were now being allowed to participate in the process despite clear evidence.“This is especially alarming as these medicines are used in life-saving and emergency treatments, and allowing it a violation of fundamental rights.

They prayed the court to halt the execution of the tender issued to Frontier Dextrose Limited, which was blacklisted and to prevent the company from participating in any government medicine supply tenders until a final decision was made on the petition.

After arguments, the court ruled that since the company was already blacklisted for supplying counterfeit and substandard medicines, its tender should not be executed under any circumstances.The court halted the process and issued a notice to the KP health department to explain its position.