Drug lawyers & pharmacists invoke SC to act against DRAP

Islamabad: Drug lawyers and pharmacists, who were up in arms against the alleged malpractices of the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP), Tuesday called upon the Supreme Court (SC) to check the ‘loot, plunder and corruption’ being committed by the Authority at the cost of precious human lives being lost every day either because of non-availability of essential medicines or sale of catastrophically expensive medicines and stents which the poor can ill-afford.

Addressing a joint press conference convened by the Pakistan Young Pharmacists Association (PYPA) and the Pakistan Drug Lawyers Forum (PDLF), PYPA’s president Dr. Haroon Yousaf said despite a written request to the Ministry of Health for participation in a stakeholders meeting convened to increase the prices of medicines, “we were pushed away by more than 25 armed guards.” He said, the letter, which was also copied to the prime minister, president and chief ministers, argued that PYPA and PDLF are the true representatives of patients in Pakistan, and as such, should be represented in the meeting held under the chairmanship of Secretary Health. He claimed that while representatives of the industry were allowed entry, they were pushed away by armed guards. He also pointed out that according to the Consumer Price Index issued by the State Bank of Pakistan, the prices of medicines were raised by 15.68% in the month of October 2017 only.

The PYPA chief highlighted that even though the Chief Justice of Pakistan took suo moto notice on the prices of stents at the start of 2017, DRAP is yet to fix the prices of stents. He quoted an FIA letter, which states that the price of imported German stents is 20 Euros per stent (Rs2,500) and alleged that the CEO of DRAP has registered stents from China at the rate of US $3-4 per stent, which are being for Rs150,000 to Rs250,000 per stent. “Every day, 4,000 patients die in Pakistan either because they cannot afford to buy costly medicines or because essential medicines are simply unavailable,” he alleged.

Dr. Mudasar Kanju, executive member of PYPA said there is no mechanism for reduction in prices of medicines even when the prices of their raw materials register a decline internationally. He stated that a drug inspector in Karachi by the name of Dr. Obaid Ali was served with a show cause notice as to why he should not be fired when he highlighted that some cancer medicines made in India are being sold at 10 times their original prices in Pakistan, and that transfer pricing is also being done by the company.

The conveners of the press conference accused the CEO of DRAP Aslam Afghani, Director Quality Assurance Akhtar Hussain and Director Registration Obaidullah of having embezzled the entire record of DRAP so that there can be no check on prices of 85,000 medicines. “We urged the Chief Justice and Chairman NAB to check the loot, plunder and corruption being practiced at DRAP at the cost of human lives,” they demanded.

Dr. Noor Muhammad Mahar, President of PDLF wondered why NAB is allegedly protecting the corruption of DRAP. “A grade 17 officer of DRAP Akhtar Hussain passed away back in 2001—a fact mentioned in two NAB corruption references of 2001 and 2004. An unknown person is since sitting in DRAP and the Ministry of Health, and working on this key position in place of the dead person. Neither the government nor any law enforcement agency is willing to take any legal action against him. We went to the Islamabad High Court to seek justice but NAB and DRAP are trying their best to Akhtar Hussain, who has built a multi-billion dollar empire across the world, with factories in India, Turkey and China,” he alleged.

Dr. Mahar further accused DRAP of giving a bailout package to the company that had manufactured millions of vials of dengue vaccine which was banned the world over after it killed children in the Philippines in September 2017. “DRAP officials said that in Pakistan, nobody dies of any drug reaction; they only die due to the will of God,” Dr. Mahar alleged. “We want the Minister for Health, the CEO of DRAP, and the Directors of Registration and QA at DRAP to first administer this vaccine to their own selves and their families before we receive it, otherwise we will file an application for registration of FIR for Attempt to Murder,” he warned.

Dr. Sehar Bashir, executive member of PYPA pointed out that on January 6, 2018, the Chief Justice of Pakistan banned all hormone injections used to increase milk production in cattle. “But fraudulently Director QA Akhtar Hussain has issued a notification banning only one hormone i.e., RBST, whereas Oxytocin and few other hormones are widely used in cattle and are spreading breast cancer in women, prostate cancer in men, and early puberty in young girls. These hormones have still not been banned in Pakistan,” he stated, urging the Chief Justice to take strong notice of this alleged fraud by DRAP officials.