State Minister for National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination Dr Zafar Mirza on Wednesday informed the National Assembly that a total of 446 medicines were declared spurious during the last five years by federal and provincial drug testing laboratories.
In reply to a question asked by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) lawmaker Azhar Qayyum Nahra, the minister said that upon receipt of reports about medicine being spurious from the Central Drugs Testing Laboratory Karachi, the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) issues recall alert to its field offices, provincial health departments and the manufacturer to initiate the recall process for the said drug to save the general public from possible hazards.
He said that from 2015 to 2019, following is the detail of spurious medicines and their manufacturing companies: 1) Amcof cough syrup, Marvi Pharmaceuticals, Karachi; 2) Samodryl, KOHS Pharmaceuticals Private Limited Hyderabad; 3) Zerodol tablets, Everest Pharmaceuticals, Islamabad; 4) Amropyron injection (for vet only), Amros Pharmaceuticals, Karachi; 5) Magnett-DS Suspension, SJ & G Fazul Ellahie (Pvt.) Ltd, Karachi; 6) Quinozef 250mg tablets, Ambro Pharma (Pvt.) Ltd, Islamabad; 7) Cardol tablets, Everest Pharmaceuticals, Islamabad; 8) Galtran tablets, Gaba Pharmaceuticals, Karachi; 9) Chlorpheniramine syrup, Gaba Pharmaceuticals Laboratories, Karachi.
To another question by PML-N's Sheikh Rohale Asghar, the minister said that at present, allergy vaccine is being prepared at National Institute of Health (NIH) in Chak Shehzad, Islamabad against 10 allergens i.e. pollen, dust, paper mulberry, thresher dust, raw cotton, fish, rice, chicken, egg, and meat in 20 different compositions. He said that approximately 20,000 vials (one vial contains 10ml vaccine: one course for three months) of allergy vaccine are manufactured on monthly basis. He added that it depends on patient flow which varies as per seasonal changes and accordingly the production capacity can be increased up to 25,000 vials per month. Besides, he said that diagnostic testing and vaccine for treatment of allergy patients is only available at the NIH Allergy Center.
The House was told that there are approximately 65,000 human medicines registered so far with the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) and in last six months, a total of 61 cases of look-alike/sound-alike brand of medicines i.e. identical packaging designs and color schemes etc were reported to the DRAP.
The House was informed that as many as 74 licenses have been granted for manufacturing of drugs/medicines to various manufactures in the country during the last four years.
Minister for Housing and Works Tariq Bashir Cheema reaffirmed the government's commitment to build five million houses to provide shelter to the low-income groups. Responding to questions during question hour in National Assembly, he said that Naya Pakistan Housing Authority has been established and this is being headed by Prime Minister Imran Khan himself. He said the aim of establishment of this authority is to provide homes to the low-income groups at affordable rates. Efforts are underway to bring down the interest rate for construction of homes to single digit, he said, adding in this regard, discussions with the FBR, State Bank of Pakistan and commercial banks are in process. Cheema said that Japan and Italy have almost agreed to provide Pakistan a handsome amount of grant which will be used to provide houses to the federal government employees below the scale of fifteen at fifty percent subsidy.
Parliamentary Secretary for Industries Aliya Hamza Malik told the House that $1 billion investment has been attracted in the automobiles sector over the last one-and-a-half-year. She said eighteen new entrants have entered the Pakistani market whilst six manufacturers have started production of vehicles.
According to figures provided by Pakistan Automotive Manufacturing Association, 339,772 automobiles were manufactured in the year 2017-18 and 297,814 in the year 2018-19, she said, insisting that there is no declining trend as sale of automobiles is dependent on various economic factors.
Parliamentary Secretary for National Health Services Nausheen Hamid told the House that Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) have been replaced with Pakistan Medical Commission to ensure efficient regulatory operations. She said the commission will ensure quality medical education and transparency in medical colleges. She said that a piece of land has been acquired for construction of King Hamad Nursing University in the federal capital. She said Bahrain will provide $13.26 million for construction of the university. She said basic health units are being upgraded in the capital.
Dr Hamid National Health Institute (NIH) would start providing rabies vaccines to the provinces this year. She said that no payment is taken in advance from any patient coming to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), Islamabad for cardiac surgeries and implanting of stents. Expenditure of cardiac surgeries and stents are not received in advance. The day patient undergoes procedure a proper bill is handed over to the relatives who then pay the bills.
The government employees then apply for reimbursement of the bills to their respective department. The bills are duly verified by the hospital.
Responding to a calling attention notice, Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Zaidi told the House that a detailed study has been carried out to address the transport woes of Karachi. He said that Maritime Advisory Council has been established and notified to strengthen the maritime sector.
Responding to the points of different members, Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar said compensation will be announced for the families affected by heavy rains and snowfall in Balochistan, Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.
The Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaisar also directed the government to collect data of damages in the rain and snowfall affected areas and announce relief for them.
The House also passed 'The University of Islamabad Bill, 2019'. It is a private sector varsity and a project of Foundation for Advancement of Innovation, Research and Education duly registered with Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan as a non-profit organization for establishing a new university at Bahria Golf City Islamabad, which is owned by real estate tycoon Malik Riaz of Behria Town.
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