RAWALPINDI/ISLAMABAD: A strike was observed by chemists in the garrison city on Wednesday and a protest demonstration was staged outside the Nation Press Club against the Punjab Drug Ordinance 2015.

The ordinance recently promulgated by the governor Punjab merged the law on spurious and substandard drugs. Under the new law, the production of either would now be punished with a 10 year sentence or a fine of 1 to 5 million Rupees and non-bailable warrants would be issued. Earlier, under Punjab Drug Act 1976 the sentence for production of spurious drugs was three to five years and the offense was bailable, while the fine was Rs100, 000.

Spurious drugs are made without a license, while substandard drugs may be produced by license holders but the product is of poor quality.

Over a thousand people working in the pharmaceutical industry gathered outside the National Press Club (NPC) on Wednesday, protesting against the policies of the Punjab government, which they alleged were harming the industry.

Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PPMA) representatives Chaudhry Munawar, Khawaja Asad and Arshad Mehmood Awan held a press conference at the NPC and appealed to the prime minister and Punjab chief minister to resolve their issues.

Chaudhry Munawar said five million people are associated with the pharmaceutical industry, which produces medicines for sale within the country and also exports to 40 countries around the world.

“There are more than 600 pharmaceutical manufacturers in the country but because of the recent ordinance, some companies will have to close their businesses. That law should only deal with spurious drugs,” he said.

PPMA former Chairman Nadeem Zafar told Dawn said that the law should deal with license holders and manufacturers of fake medicines separately.

“If an element in a medicine should be at 80 per cent and it is found to be at 79 per cent, the medicine is still declared substandard. Similarly, if there is a typographical mistake on the packet, the medicine is considered substandard,” he said.

Mr Zafar said that even a pharmacist’s mistake would result in the owner of a company being punished for 10 years. “The ordinance will be lapsed within 120 days, if it is not passed by the parliament,” he said.

Kaleem Ahmed Khan, who is a general manager of Pharmaceutical Company, told Dawn that the new law will give unlimited powers to drug inspectors.

But a doctor at Polyclinic, requesting anonymity, said substandard drugs put millions of lives at risk so the law aimed at punishing manufacturers who produce such drugs is a positive move.

Meanwhile, in response to the call of Punjab Chemists Association, chemists in Rawalpindi observed a shutter down against the ordinance.

“We will suspend the supply of medicines to hospitals across the province, if the government does not repeal the ordinance within two days,” Chairman of the Association’s action committee Nasir Qureshi told Dawn.

Mr Qureshi said that by increasing the sentence, the government was treating chemists and manufacturers as criminals.

He said a number of imported drugs which were unregistered were being sold and rather than registering such medicines, the government is taking action against local chemists.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play