Expired, unregistered medical devices seized during raid at drug importer’s warehouses

During a raid at warehouses of a drug importer on Sharea Faisal, a team of the provincial drug administration seized on Thursday a large quantity of expired and unregistered medical devices that were to be supplied to medical stores in Karachi and interior Sindh.

“Today we along with our drug inspectors raided M/s Healthcare in KCHS on Sharea Faisal and seized a large quantity of medical devices which were either expired or not registered in Pakistan,” said Sindh Chief Drug Inspector Syed Adnan Rizvi, while speaking to The News.

The chief drug inspector claimed that the confiscated devices included those that were used to take out samples from the nervous and circulatory systems of human body and could prove extremely dangerous if they were not genuine.

Drug administration officials said this was the first time that they had taken action against sellers and suppliers of substandard, unregistered and expired medical devices after the formation of rules about medical devices.

They pledged that they will not allow trade of substandard and expired medical in the province as it was tantamount to playing with the lives of people. The seized equipment included expired needles and syringes that are used to extract CSF fluid from the spine of human beings.

According to the drug administration officials, these devices lose sterilisation after a certain period of time and can cause infections in the central nervous system, which are hard to cure and can result in permanent disabilities and even deaths.

Substandard medical devices, which are locally produced and imported from China and India, are not only being sold in markets of Karachi but also being supplied to other parts of the country, Rizvi said, adding that the sale of such items was a serious health hazard.

“Surgical devices seized by us included a huge quantity of expired devices which fall in Category D and while substandard and unregistered medical devices were also found in violation of Device Rules 2018,” the chief drug inspector said.

Rizvi asked all the importers, local manufacturers and suppliers of medical devices to comply with the Surgical and Medical Devices Rules, 2018. He warned that strict action would be taken against the violators of rules and their cases would be sent to courts so that they can be awarded harsh punishments.