GUJRAT: The local drug supply company that was declared illegal by the chief minister’s inquiry committee had also been supplying medicines to the five remaining districts of Gujranwala division without a licence for at least six years, the committee found out.

People have sought broadening the scope of probe into the matter by quizzing senior officials of the district health department without whose backing, they claimed, the company would not have been able to keep supplying drugs to public health facilities.

Official sources in the health department told Dawn that KI Traders had supplied drugs worth over Rs220 million across Gujranwala region in the past few years and that too without any lawful authority.

A four-member inquiry committee being led by the provincial parliamentary secretary for health, Khawaja Imran Nazeer, with Primary Healthcare Secretary Ali Jan, Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) Director General and District Coordination Officer Liaquat Ali Chattha as its members had mentioned in its findings that the said company was involved in supplying drugs to some other districts of Gujranwala region.

The committee recommended the authorities concerned in the health department of other districts gather details of the drugs supplied and the total amount to further probe the issue. Since the inquiry team did not mention the role of officials concerned of the district health department in the practice, people demanded provincial high-ups take notice of the situation.

Basharat Khan, a local civil society activist who has been keeping an eye on the issue, questioned how a drug dealer without a licence could supply spurious medicines to the health department without connivance of officials.

Shahid Basheer, another activist, said the inquiry team had almost exonerated the ruling party’s former MPA whom he alleged was an influential character in this illegal business. This clearly showed the inquiry committee was formed to save the former MPA.

Civil Lines police has been investigating three cases registered against the owners of the company under different charges — two on the complaint of Drug Inspector Ehsan Ilahi Cheema and the other on the recommendation of the DCO. The inquiry committee has asked the district police officer to expedite investigation into the cases.

Published in Dawn, May 17th, 2016