‘Legislation to curb spurious drugs’

LAHORE
Adviser to Chief Minister on Health Khawaja Salman Rafiq has said that new legislation will be carried out soon to curb the manufacturing and selling of spurious and substandard medicines. He said that necessary amendments had been proposed in the Drug Act 1976, according to the ground realities and requirements of the present situation in which strict punishment and huge penalties had been recommended for culprits.
He said this while addressing an orientation seminar regarding the new laws for spurious and substandard medicines organised by the Punjab Health Department at Management and Professional Development Department (MPDD), according to a handout issued on Saturday. Besides Chief Secretary Punjab Khizar Hayat Gondal, Additional Chief Secretary Syed Mubashir Raza, Secretary Health Jawad Rafiq Malik, Vice-Chairmen Chief Minister Drug Taskforces Qazi Adnan Farid and Zeshan Gurmani, Secretary Prosecution Ali Murtaza, Director Law Department Mohsin Abbas, DG Health Dr. Zahid Pervaiz, WHO Rep. Dr. Khalid Saeed, directors DTL Lahore and Multan, Additional Secretary Drug Control Dr. Muhammad Amir, chief drug inspector, secretary Punjab quality control board and drug inspectors attended the seminar.
The chief secretary said that spurious drugs were poison for people’s health and this evil trade would be eliminated at every cost. He said the tasks given by Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif to eliminate trade of spurious and substandard drugs would be completed. He said that more capacity-building seminars and training programmes would be organised with the help of MPDD not only for drug inspectors/officials but also for the stakeholders from private sector. Khizar Hayat further said the objective of introducing amendments in the Drug Act was to improve the situation and rid the people of business of spurious and substandard medicines.
Secretary Prosecution Ali Murtaza and Director Law Department Punjab Mohsin Abbas gave detailed lectures regarding amendments in the Drug Act 1976. They said the definition of spurious and substandard medicines had been elaborated in the new clauses. He said that strict clauses had also been included in the drug rules for the check and balance of drug inspectors.