KARACHI: Governor of Sindh Mohammad Zubair said on Monday that he was willing to play a mediating role between the pharmaceutical companies of the province and Punjab government to resolve reservations of medicine manufacturers regarding the newly adopted Punjab Drugs (Amendment) Law-2017.
The Governor stated this while meeting the Central Chairman of Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers’ Association (PPMA) Dr. Kaiser Waheed at Governor House on Monday. Mr Zubair said that he would soon talk to the Punjab Chief Minister to convey the serious reservation of medicine manufacturers in his province regarding the newly passed Punjab Drugs (Amendment) Law 2017.
The PPMA Chairman informed the governor that medicine manufacturers in Sindh accounted for up to 70 percent of drugs being supplied and consumed all over the country. He told the governor that pharmaceutical companies in Sindh were not at all pleased on the passing of the Punjab Drugs (Amendment) Law since in its aftermath, the uniform and nationwide regulatory system for manufacturing, trade, distribution, and sale of medicines in Pakistan was no longer valid as Punjab had virtually adopted its own formula to control the Pharma sector.
Dr Waheed said that as the new provincial drug amendment law was implemented in the neighboring province, owners of Pharma companies in Sindh feared getting harsh punishment if medicines produced by them and supplied to Punjab were found to have been of substandard quality. He said that 10 years’ imprisonment and a fine up to Rs 100 million was too harsh as punishment for a licensed and authorized manufacturer of medicines, if by chance his medicinal product turned out to be substandard and unfit for human consumption.
He said that the newly passed drugs amendment law had negated the globally accepted and applicable procedure, which had to be adopted if a medicine was found to have become substandard and unfit for human consumption. This procedure calls for immediate recall from the market of all defective batches of drugs and the replacement of freshly manufactured batches of the same medicine have to be supplied.
The PPMA chairman said that properly manufactured medicines could turn out to be of inferior quality due to sudden and slight variations of temperature and moisture and in such an instance, the contents of medicines would not meet globally acceptable pharmaceutical safety standards. However, owners of pharmaceutical companies believe they should not have to face stern punishment comprised of a prolonged jail term and heavy fines for accidental and unintentional variation in the quality of drugs they produce.
Meanwhile, the Sindh governor informed the PPMA chairman about the resolve of both provincial and federal governments to support industries in the province and to upgrade the infrastructure and facilities of different industrial zones. The governor said that the prime minister was also keen to witness the country attaining economic and industrial development and progress.
