ISLAMABAD: The sale of unregistered drugs has become a matter of concern for the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Drap) as a number of pharmaceutical companies continue manufacturing and selling medicines even after the cancellation of their registration.

Ministry of National Health Services (NHS) Secretary Ayub Sheikh says a bar coding system is the only way to stop the sale of illegal and spurious drugs.

Tens of thousands of medicines are being sold all over the country.

Though Drap time to time cancels registration of different drugs after receiving complaints, some of the firms continue selling them, especially in small cities and towns.

According to a statement issued by the ministry of health on Sunday, a team of Drap during a raid in Sahiwal along with a local team recovered unregistered tablets. The registration for the manufacturing of the tablets was granted to a firm on September 11, 2012. Later, it transpired that the medicine was being sold with less dosage.

So Drap suspended the registration in 2013. However, recently the authority came to know that the medicine was still being sold. As a result, the raid was carried out and the tablets were confiscated.

An official of Drap requesting not to be quoted told Dawn that after suspension of the registration, pharmaceutical companies cannot manufacture any medicine unless they have permission from Drap.

“However, it has been observed that many firms stop selling such medicines in big cities but continue their sale in small cities and towns,” he added.

Health Secretary Ayub Sheikh told Dawn that it was difficult to physically check thousands of drug stores across the country.

“We are in the process of introducing a bar coding system to overcome the issue. Just like in the departmental stores, the price of any medicine can be checked through the bar code machine.”

He said people who use smart phones would be able to scan the two-dimensional bar code after downloading the free software.

The purchaser will get information about the name of the product, its maker, batch number, expiry date and price.

In reply to a question, Mr Sheikh said the bar coding system would be introduced by February 2016.

“It will be optional for the initial three months and after that all the pharmaceutical companies would have to have the bar codes on the packets of the medicines,” he said.

Published in Dawn, November 30th, 2015