KARACHI, Nov 24: Two NGOs working for consumers’ protection and a higher quality of life for the poor, have urged the government to place its plan for the establishment of a ‘federal drug regulatory authority’ before the parliament.

Addressing a press conference at the Karachi Press Club on Friday, the executive coordinators of the Network for Consumer Protection (NCP) and the Health & Nutrition Development Society (Hands) said that the plan chalked out by the federal ministry for health had reportedly been sent to the office of the president for approval and promulgation as an ordinance.

They feared that it did not address adequately the issue of peoples’ access to quality medicines.

Ayyaz Kiani of the NCP pointed out that people had been faced with the dual problem of inferior quality or spurious drugs and excessively priced medicines for long. This could be attributed to both the controller of drugs and the pharmaceutical industries.

The plan aimed at regulating or monitoring the affairs of pharmaceutical industries and medicine marketing, if not reviewed or discussed at the forums of stakeholders, may ultimately prove beneficial to the pharmaceutical industry at the cost of public interest.

Mr Kiani maintained that the draft document seemed to be an eyewash, particularly when the proposed institution was going to replace the Drug Control Organisation set up under the Drug Act of 1976.He alleged that the government was deliberately relaxing its grip vis-a-vis the regulation as its crucial responsibility of ensuring quality of pharmaceutical products and services was being shifted to the industries. “It appears that the government is going to depend solely in future on certification and pledge by the industries as far as the quality and pricing of drugs are concerned,” Mr Kiani remarked.

Replying to a question, he said that his NGO had reservations over the government’s idea of further enhancing the influence of pharmaceutical industries in the official decision-making and it had also submitted pleas to the president, prime minister and chief justice of Pakistan. However, he added, it had not receive any response so far.

The executive of Hands, Dr Tanveer Sheikh, said that people were already overburdened due to the unethical marketing practices on the part of the pharmaceutical industries, which included promoting brands in connivance with certain doctors, physicians, as well as those at the helm of the affairs.

The drug authorities and health ministry should ensure production, marketing, distribution and sale of acceptable quality medicines for patients, Dr Tanveer added.