KARACHI, April 17: Federal Health Minister Mohammad Naseer Khan has said that the government is in process of establishing a full-fledged drug regulatory authority. Talking to newsmen following the inauguration of the state-of-art plant and laboratory at pharmaceutical company, Bristol-Myers Squibb, the federal minister said that the investment in pharmaceutical sector was being registered at a pace of 13 per cent. He agreed that the government while welcoming investment should also ensure quality of products and benefit of investment to the masses.
Naseer Khan reminded that as compared to a 13 growth rate in pharmaceutical industry around six per cent growth rate was witnessed in other industries adding that this was mainly because of the geographical location of Pakistan which could pave way for access to markets in Central Asia and other parts of the world.
Keeping in view the growing realization of the international investors, he said that he had forwarded a proposition to Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz for allocating special corner to pharmaceutical industries in the Export Zone of Gwadar. This, according to him, would be besides 35 pharmaceutical units either established recently or in process of being set up in different parts of the country.
He said the government had announced the much awaited national health policy with prevention as its corner stone. In this regard, he particularly mentioned the country-wide “Safe Water Programme” to be formally announced by President Musharraf.
This was stated to be besides the National Hepatitis Prevention Programme worth Rs2.5 billion along with a massive project for child and mother. “50 per cent of the amount allocated for Child and Mother Care Programme has been released and concrete measures are being adopted to prevent unwarranted mortality and morbidity of the two,” he said.
Appreciating the massive investments made by the US-based company in Pakistan, he maintained that the government would appreciate if both local pharmaceutical industries as well as their multinational counterparts would equally focus on research.
According to him, the ministry of health in close collaboration with the ministry of science and technology has chalked out a strategy for research in the field pharmacology in attempt to derive compounds from medicinal plants and making them as effective therapies for different diseases.
US Consul-General Douglas C. Rohn said that the investment made by one of the best US-based multinational companies was reflective of growing keenness of his country to contribute in economic uplift of Pakistan. This, he said, was more than investment as the idea was to ensure that its benefit trickles down to the masses.
Meanwhile, the federal health minister inaugurated the Pakistan Pharmacist House at Gulshan-i-Maymar here on Saturday evening.
He said that doctors and their representative associations should work to give boost to health sector. He advised doctors and their associations to play their role in discouraging Over The Counter (OTC) sale of drugs and substandard medicines. He noted with concern that nowhere in the world expired or stolen medicines were sold in the market except Pakistan. He pointed out that the volume of imported medicines had also grown from during the last couple of years from US$900 million to US$1.03 billion.
Referring to the appointment of pharmacists at government hospitals in tehsils, Naseer Khan said that the summary had been sent for approval and this would be announced in the next budget.
Earlier, the Pakistan Chemist and Druggists Association, Sindh Zone chairman in his welcome address assured the health minister of his full support for implementation of Drug Act in accordance with the instructions of the prime minister. —APP
