Govt to ensure easy availability of life-saving drugs, says PM

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan said Wednesday that people were the government’s top priority and it was making utmost efforts for easy availability of life-saving and other important drugs as well as provision of these at affordable prices.

The prime minister observed this while chairing a meeting regarding the performance and responsibilities of the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) here. The meeting was attended by Special Assistant on Health Dr Zafar Mirza, Attorney General Khalid Javed, Secretary National Health Services and Regulations, CEO DRAP and other senior officials.

The prime minister directed to accelerate efforts to make the DRAP a fully functional and vibrant body, adding that manpower requirements of the organisation should be fully met. He added that all necessary measures were needed to be taken for creation of separate departments of policy making and policy implementation in the DRAP. He maintained that policy making and policy implementation were two different departments, saying the government’s policy in this connection was quite clear, as amalgamation of the two give-way to problems.

The meeting was given briefing on the performance of DRAP and how to make it fully functional and vibrant and the efforts for elimination of the menace of corruption and irregularities from the authority.

The prime minister emphasised that the role of DRAP as a regulating body was quite crucial. He called for accelerating efforts aimed at making the Authority completely functional and at the administrative level vacancies must be filled on priority basis.

The meeting also discussed matters pertaining to the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC). The prime minister directed to complete all the matters regarding the council as per the judgment of the Supreme Court so that the doctors and others associated with the profession did not face any difficulty.

Meanwhile, Minister for Economic Affairs Hammad Azhar, Minister for National Food Security Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar, Adviser on Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Adviser on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood and Adviser on Institutional Reforms Dr Ishrat Hussain called on Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Separately, social worker and singer Shahzad Roy also called on the prime minister and discussed matters pertaining to improvement in the education standard. Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood was also present on the occasion.