January 11, 2003	Saturday	Ziqa'ad 7, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, Jan 10: The ministry of health has black-listed a pharmaceutical company following an inquiry report that confirmed certain flaws in the quality control system of the company.

Concern was raised on December 16, 2002 by a retired government servant suffering from cardio-vascular disease, who approached TheNetwork, a non-governmental organization (NGO) working for consumer rights, to take up the issue of tablet-less blister strips of a medicine named ‘Pulse’ manufactured by Werrike Pharmaceuticals at appropriate level. The issue was also taken up by the media.

As a result of the written complaint lodged with the medical superintendent of the Federal Government Services Hospital (FGSH) forwarded the case to the health ministry which appointed the federal drug inspector, Dr Abdul Rasheed, to investigate the matter.

Dawn learnt that the federal drug inspector, following detailed investigations has submitted his report, confirming certain flaws in the quality control system of the pharmaceutical company because of which empty strips of the drug ‘Pulse’ were supplied not only to the FGSH but a number of medical stores in Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

Dr Rasheed said the manufacturer of the medicine had also been directed by the health ministry to immediately install a special scanning machine at its factory to check each strip of tablets before marketing.

The health ministry had directed that the quality control system of the manufacturer would be closely monitored by the federal drug inspector and the official should visit the production unit frequently.

Dr Zafar Mirza, the executive director of TheNetwork, which brought up the issue, said it was not the first case of its kind.

“In fact, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Such incidents are frequent in daily life.

The whole public health delivery system needs improvement and radical changes,” he said.