Pakistan Chemists and Druggists Association (PCDA) has drawn the attention of health ministry and Drug Regulatory Authority (DRA) towards the possible suspension of supplies of lifesaving products from June 19.

In a letter to the Chief Executive of DRAP and Secretary Ministry of NHSR&C, the association requested to the authority and the ministry to act proactively to deal with the suspension of supplies of biological products from next month.

"The tenure of the current Federal Government Analyst (FGA) Zafar Mehmood Minhas ends on June 19; we would earnestly request to please ensure that the position of the FGA does not remain vacant for a day. [Otherwise], it would result in non-supply of life saving products.

Unless the DRAP and the NHSR&C acts proactively, there will again be a suspension of supplies of biological products from the 19th of June," stated the letter.

It may be noted that Zafar Mehmood was notified as FGA by the ministry of NHSR&C on April 27th for three months, effective from March 19 till June 19. Earlier, the delay in notifying the FGA by over 45 days as the post was vacant since March 13 created a very chaotic situation.

"Products such as various MABs (Oncology), vaccines, recombinant biologicals, insulin, products for kidney transplants, products for dialysis and burns patients, cardiology products, plasma derived products, and many more critical care products became short in supply, simply because the DRAP & NHSR&C did not prioritize the approval of the notification of a FGA for almost a month and a half," stated Chairman PCDA Khalid Saeed.

He added that they do understand that Covid-19 is a priority matter, but there are numerous patients whose lives depend on such critical biological products and who cannot afford to wait due to departmental delays.