‘Govt must withdraw snags in healthcare imports’

LAHORE: Pakistan-China Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCJCCI) on Thursday urged the government to withdraw regulatory hurdles faced by importers of refurbished medical equipment to ease the problems faced by the healthcare sector, especially in view of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The demand was made by the chamber in view of the briefing by a delegation of the Pakistan Medical Equipment Importers and Dealers Association (PMEIDA) during a meeting with PCJCCI Vice President Khalid Raffique Choudhry. PMEIDA briefed regarding the imposition of licensing condition on import of used hospital machinery by the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP), despite the presence of existing frameworks in this regard.

Delegates complained that Pakistan Customs Department had initiated a new practice, where they asked importers to produce DRAP Establishment License.

They said they were the largest source providing hospital machinery to the private sector hospitals in the country. The aforesaid can be substantiated by the fact that the NDMA had also bought refurbished equipment to address the latest pandemic scenario.

Executive members of PMEIDA discussed various matters regarding trade in their respective sector, and said that currently all refurbished equipment being imported fell in the ambit of import policy of Pakistan, whereas the imported radiology equipment was also being registered in Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority. This meant that such imports were already under a certain legal framework.

DRAP has not defined any clear procedure, reflecting as to how to register the same product imported by different parties, because all equipment/devices are purchased either from auction houses, general dealers or directly from hospitals in countries like US, UK and Japan etc.

PCJCCI Secretary General Salahuddin Hanif has appealed the government to formulate new rules for import of used medical equipment in consultation with the stakeholders and not to restrict licensing for now, as the country was passing through a medical emergency.