ISLAMABAD: Following reports of artificial shortage of medicine dexamethasone, the drug which has reportedly encouraging results in Covid-19 treatment, the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Administration has conducted inspections of medical stores to ensure availability of the medicine.

Different teams of the ICT Administration conducted visits of pharmacies as well as taken action against the shops who failed to comply with standard operating procedures (SOPs) framed for controlling spread of the coronavirus.

According to a notification issued by the district administration, it has taken serious notice of reported shortage of the medicine dexamethasone in some pharmacies.

In this regard all the pharmacies shall ensure the uninterrupted supply and availability of the medicine at the prevalent rates.

This medicine shall be sold on to consumers with valid prescription having stamp and signature of a registered medical practitioner and have PMDC registration number on it.

Moreover, for every sale, the pharmacies shall keep a copy of prescription and ensure entry into the sale register, for purposes of record and audit by the assistant commissioners.

Sale of the above medicine at inflated or exorbitant rates or its artificial shortage by hoarding shall be cognizable under Profiteering and Hoarding Act 1976, and the Schedule II of The DRAP Act 2012.

All assistant commissioners are directed to make inspections and conduct audit of the pharmacies in their areas to ensure uninterrupted supply of dexamethosne, and its sale to consumers with valid prescription.

Meanwhile, the number of confirmed cases of the Covid-19 in the capital city rose to 9,941, after 304 new cases were reported from the various parts of the city on Friday.

Out of total 9,941 cases, 2,770 patients have recovered and 95 have died. The number of reported cases of the Covid-19 in the capital city on June 18 were 9,637, on June 17, 9,242, on June 16, 8,857, on June 15, 8,569, on June 14, 7934, on June 13, 7163, on June 12, 6699, June 11, 6236, June 10, 5963, June 9, 5783, June 8, 5329, June 7, 4979, June 6, 4323, June 5, 3946, June 4, 3544, June 3, 3188, June 2, 2,893, and on June 1, 2,589.