Resolution of pharma issues urged

LAHORE: The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has appealed to Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif to take immediate notice of the miseries of pharmaceutical sector and order resolution of their issues on priority basis, a statement said on Tuesday.

Supporting the cause voiced by the pharmaceutical industry, LCCI president Abdul Basit, senior vice president Amjad Ali Jawa and vice president Muhammad Nasir Hameed Khan said the matter should be resolved at the earliest to protect economic interests of the country.

They said in the recent past, the Punjab government made amendments in the Punjab Drug Act 2017 against which people from pharmaceutical industry staged a protest in February. They said over 20 meetings were held and talks were going on to address the genuine reservations of the pharma industry, while provincial minister for law and parliamentary affairs Rana Sanaullah had promised to get final draft of negotiated amendments approved by the Punjab Assembly, but all of a sudden earlier amendments in Drug Act 2017 have been implemented without taking stakeholders on board.