26 February 2004	Thursday	05 Muharram 1425

KARACHI, Feb 25: Spurious, counterfeit and expired medicines have evidently flooded local market and unscrupulous elements have been selling the stuff for quite a long time.

Inadequate number of drug control inspectors in the city government's health department is one of the main factors contributing to the ineffectiveness of drug inspection and control system.

The open sale of the substandard medicines, as well as smuggled stocks which are easily available at medical stores, proves government's apathy towards this extremely sensitive issue related directly to human life.

The relevant authorities' indifference can be gauged from the fact that only there are only six inspectors in the health department to ensure a check on the entire business of medicine in this huge metropolis of multi-million population.

The situation has tuned worse with the suspension of one the inspectors, who is facing a departmental inquiry, and absence of another one who has gone on long leave. Moreover, only two of the remaining four are regular employees while appointment of the other two is yet to be notified by the department.

An official of the department admitted that it was very hard for this meagre number of drug inspectors to keep a proper and effective check on local market. "The menace of counterfeit, smuggled and spurious drugs is rampant but the department is helpless in this regard," he regretted and cited a number of compulsions preventing the department to take those involved to task.

He revealed that before the introduction of the devolution plan, one inspector used to be posted at each of the defunct districts and another one, their superior, had been supposed to remain at head office to compile the reports prepared and submitted by those in the field.

However, he added, the devolution plan divided Karachi in 18 towns but the number of drug inspectors had been curtailed to just two and they were supposed to cover the entire city.

He pointed out that certain medicines including antibiotics, tranquillizers, etc., were not allowed to be sold without the production of a doctor's prescription. Violation of this rule is rampant as such medicines could be availed freely from any medical store without showing a prescription. - PPI