Deaths caused by spurious drugs: strict action to be taken against responsible persons, PA assured

Parliamentarian Secretary for Health Dr Saeed Elahi assured the Punjab Assembly on Thursday that strict action would be taken against those responsible for 100 deaths caused by reaction of spurious drugs. "Amendments are being made in the procurement procedure of medicines in the government hospitals with the aim of making it a foolproof system," said Dr Saeed while briefing the House on latest situation regarding the deaths caused by reaction of drugs.
Dr Saeed disclosed that the initial investigations by Provincial Drug Testing Lab revealed that composition of their active ingredients were up to the standard but composition of other ingredients was being ascertained in more sophisticated labs in Belgium, France and the US. The reports were expected in the next couple of days after conducting about 1900 tests upon them, he added.
He said patients reporting to various hospitals with bleeding from multiple sites started during the first week of January. He further said on preliminary investigation it was revealed that almost all patients had been on cardiac medicines issued from the Punjab Institute of Cardiology since December 12, 2011. "On further probe it was revealed that these patients were having bone marrow suppression leading to low blood counts and bleedings," he added.
He listed five drugs that were suspected of causing the problem in cardiac patients: Cardiovastation, Concont, Isotab, Solprin and Atelnolo. He said 28,000 cardiac patients registered with PIC took these medicines, of them 451 were affected and 100 died. At present, 218 patients with bone marrow suppression condition are hospitalised, of which only 20 were serious since they had not been responding to the treatment. "Special committees were established by the Punjab government to monitor the situation while drug inspectors were inspecting the labs of all pharmaceutical companies to check any malpractices in the manufacturing process and standards," he added.
According to him, the government has devised multipronged strategy to counter the problem. Suspected drugs are being retrieved from all patients and markets, and their samples have been sent for analysis and investigation to credible domestic and foreign labs. Also, the managements of the pharmaceutical companies that manufactured them were booked under section 322 PPC, arrested and a team of experts is investigating the case to reach the culprits. Also, special counters have been established for handling of affected patients.
While responding to the queries of the opposition benches, he said the PIC procurement of drugs was not based on merely approving the lowest tender but the pharmaceutical companies are made to provide the approved drugs at the lowest limits of their price range because of the bulk supplies.
He also informed the House that mechanism of drug registration and pricing is done by the Federal government. He alleged that 'pharmaceutical mafia' manipulates Federal government officials to fix the price of drugs several times higher than the actual price. Later, the House readopted the remaining 14 bills that were sent back by Punjab Governor Latif Khosa for reconsideration. The Punjab Governor had returned 28 bills with objections, and without any modifications the treasury benches readopted them in two days.
The opposition benches opposed the move on the pretext that the treasury benches were not following the proper procedure for passage of bills. Undeterred by their arguments, Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah tabled the bills, which are: The Hindu Disposition of Property (Amendment) Bill 2011; The Hindu Law of Inheritance (Second Amendment) Bill 2011; The Voluntary Social Welfare Agencies (Registration and Control) (Amendment) Bill 2011; The Road Transport Workers (Amendment) Bill 2011; The Punjab Industrial and Commercial Employment (Standing Orders) (Amendment) Bill 2011; The Punjab Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill 2011; The Punjab Workers' Children (Education) (Amendment) Bill 2011; The Punjab Bonded Labour System (Abolition) (Amendment) Bill 2011; The Punjab Agricultural Pesticides (Amendment) Bill 2011; The Provincial Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill 2011; The Punjab Conferment of Property Rights on Occupancy Tenants and Muqarraridars Bill 2011; The Punjab Local Government (Second Amendment) Bill 2011; The Ghazi University, Dera Ghazi Khan Bill 2011; and The Punjab Public Service Commission (Amendment) Bill 2011
The Law Minister also tabled The Parks and Horticulture Authority (Amendment) Bill 2011, which was referred to the House's standing committee. Meanwhile, the House unanimously passed a resolution in favour of allowing cultural and extracurricular activities in educational institutions of Punjab. The resolution was moved by opposition leader Raja Riaz (of PPP) in response to an earlier resolution, passed by the same House, which demanded banning of objectionable musical concerts in educational institutions.
Maulana Ilyas Chinioti of PML-N opposed the resolution and argued that we should not allow vulgarity on the pretext of promotion of cultural and extracurricular activities. In protest, he walked-out of the House. The House also took up question-answer session on housing, urban development and public health engineering department, and call attention notices. Later, the Speaker adjourned the House till Friday morning.