Speaking at a seminar the other day Punjab Chief Minister's Advisor on Health, Khawaja Salman Rafique, said that new legislation is to be introduced soon to stop the manufacturing and sale of spurious and substandard medicines. Proposed amendments to the Drug Act, 1976, include harsher punishments for these offences. The decision to address the problem cannot be welcomed enough. The bane of spurious and substandard drugs - medicines that do not contain the required active ingredients, carry misleading names or manufacturer information, or are downright fake - unfortunately, is a criminal activity that has gone on for long because of lax governmental control.
The existing law has some serious flaws. For instance, under this law whosoever manufactures for sale or sells any spurious drug is punishable with imprisonment for up to five years or with fine which may extend to fifty thousand or both. A second offence can bring a much severe punishment - five years behind bars along with fine of up to ten hundred thousand rupees or even life term. But things do not get to that point. If at all anyone gets caught the provision of Rs 50,000 maximum fine provides an easy escape. This loophole needs to be plugged properly. Nonetheless, a stricter law by itself is not going to help. At least two other aspects call for improvement. First of all, the drug inspectors should be able to carry out checking and sampling work without fear or favour. Misuse of authority also needs to be prevented. In order to ensure that manufacturers or sellers are not unduly harassed the proposed amendments include punitive action against inspectors found to be registering fake FIRs and furnishing wrong evidence. Also important is the decision to introduce a mobile checking system that is to allow monitoring of drug inspectors as well as substandard/spurious drugs production and sale activities in a transparent manner. The other provinces should also consider replicating the measure.
Secondly, the drug testing facilities both at the centre and in the provinces are a lot less than satisfactory. In a recent example of poor quality control, some 25,000 injections of an antibiotic medicine supplied to Hafizabad District Hospital last November were found to be spurious. The scandal surfaced after 8,502 shots had already been administered, while the remaining 16,458 had to be confiscated. According to a newspaper report, the medicine was declared of 'standard quality' by the Drug Testing Laboratory, Punjab, in February 2014 and as adulterated/substandard following the discovery of its adverse reaction a few months later, ie, in November. It may be recalled that back in 2012 when more than 100 patients receiving substandard medicine from the Punjab Cardiology Institute died, the medicine had to be sent abroad for testing. It is about time the federal and all provincial governments put in place modern drug testing laboratories to ensure quality control.