05 March 2005	Saturday	23 Muharram 1426

PESHAWAR, March 4: Speakers at a workshop have expressed concern over the non-implementation of the Drug Act, 1976. "Non-implementation of the Drug Act has enabled the pharmaceutical companies to raise prices of their products as they liked.

They have raised the prices by 100 per cent during the past 10 years," said Mohammad Najib of The Network, an Islamabad-based NGO, while speaking at the concluding session of a five-day media workshop here on Friday.

It had encouraged the pharmaceutical firms to resort to unethical promotional tactics to capture the Rs70 billion Pakistan's drug market for their products, he said, adding that in the absence of official check, the multinational companies were cashing on the miseries of the patients by marketing useless and harmful drugs for monetary gains.

During the five-day sessions, coordinated by Ayaz Kiani, Mohammad Najib and Dr Ahsan Latif, journalists from print and electronic media shared views and most of them criticized the health ministry for its failure to play its role as a regulatory body.

Mr Najib believed that the government has failed to provide relief to patients and underlined that in most of the cases, public opinion was not entertained in policy making.

He said: "According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), a country require 300 essential drugs, which can fulfil the health needs of the people, but in Pakistan, the number of registered drugs is over 35,000.

He alleged that there had been an unholy alliance of health ministry, some sections of the medical profession and medical facilities' providers due to which the patients' rights were not protected.

Implementation of the Drug Act, especially with reference to registration and quality assurance of drugs, was very important to provide patients with inexpensive and quality medicines.

Ayaz Kiani of The Network was of the view that even the most qualified doctors were looting patients at the behest of the pharmaceutical companies. He alleged that not only qualified doctors, but quacks in the rural areas were playing with the health of poor people. "Quacks should not be allowed to own and operate medical stores particularly in rural areas," he said.