LAHORE, June 5: The Punjab health department on Thursday sealed seven medical stores where expired, defaced and stolen medicines were on sale and qualified pharmacists not present. All the medical stores had valid licences for selling medicines, but the licensees were not available.

The stores, located in the Lohari wholesale medicine market and on the Mayo Hospital Road and the Queens Road, were sealed by a raiding team comprising Punjab health minister Dr Tahir Ali Javed, health secretary Hasan Waseem Afzal, additional secretary (technical) Dr Mushtaq Sulehria, Chief Drug Inspector Chaudhry Maqbool Amjad, Punjab Quality Control Board secretary Abdus Salam Mufti, area drug inspectors and health reporters from various daily newspapers.

The team raided the Lohari market and booked the owner of the three-storey Welcome Traders wholesale medical store, where it found a number of expired medicines. Besides, medicines that required refrigeration were found lying in the open.

The drug inspectors also seized samples of various medicines for examination at the Drug Testing Laboratory.

As the drug inspectors’ team was inspecting the medical store, Lahore Wholesale Chemists Association chairman Mian Abdul Rasheed arrived at the scene and objected to the raid. As the team continued to go ahead with its job, Mian Rasheed asked other shopkeepers to put up their shutters. He also announced a strike against the raid.

The drug inspectors also sealed the Madina Medical Store, Amin Traders and Osama Traders, which had been closed to avoid the raid.

On the Mayo Hospital Road, the team sealed the Zain Medical Store and the Allah Maalik Medical Store after recovering expired and defaced medicines and branulas from these shops. Pharmacists were also not available in these stores.

The team also found blood bags in a refrigerator at the Allah Maalik Medical Store. The owner said the bags belonged to a patient and had been lying in the refrigerator for five weeks. He also did not maintain the controlled drugs’ register.

The team later raided medical stores on the Queens Road in front of the Ganga Ram Hospital and sealed the Nisar Brothers Medical Store and Nadeem Medical Store on charges of keeping expired and stolen medicines and keeping medicines that required refrigeration in the open.

The team found sutures bearing the stamp of the Punjab Institute of Cardiology at the Nadeem Medical Store besides expired needles and Vacuettes — required to draw blood for laboratory tests. It was learnt that a substandard and expired Vacuette could lead to wrong test reports and wrong diagnosis. Licensed pharmacists were also not available in both these medical stores.

Later, at a briefing in a health department committee room, health minister Dr Tahir Ali Javed said that apprehensions in the minds of people and health department about the validity and efficacy of medicines had been confirmed by the raids.

He observed that medical stores were found violating the Drugs Act and other related rules. He said drinking water and juice packs were being kept in refrigerators along with medicines and even blood bags.

He observed that the medicines requiring refrigeration lost their efficacy in the open. Medicines that were supposed to be stored under 20 and 25 degrees Celsius were being kept in the open. He said medicines were also found lying in big boxes. Being a doctor, he would never prescribe such medicines to his patients.

The minister said the raid was aimed at conveying the message to medical store owners to stop illegal activities or face punitive action. He said the health department would extend its programme of surprise raids to the rest of Lahore and the province. “The health department will not let anybody play with the lives of innocent people.”

He said it was found that medical stores had acquired medicines bearing the stamps of various hospitals.

Dr Tahir said the store owners had the right to go on strike. “However, if the medical store owners go on strike for their vested interests, then the public itself will condemn the move.”

Health secretary Hasan Waseem Afzal said the department would also constitute teams to cancel the licences of stores where licensees were not available. He said an extensive duty roster would also be circulated among 129 drug inspectors for the checking of medical stores.

He said the sealed medical stores could file appeals with the District Quality Control Boards.