TAXILA: The district health authorities on Friday launched a crackdown on violators of Punjab Healthcare Commission Act 2010 and sealed three different pharmacies in Attock for allegedly selling misbranded drugs.

The authorities also imposed a fine on them for not hiring pharmacists and initiated legal action against them.

On public complaints, a team led by Assistant Commissioner Jannat Hussain Nekokara along with Provincial Drug Controller Syed Tariq Masood Shah along with Drug Controller Adnan Aslam raided pharmacies in various parts of the city.

Miss Jannat said that unwarranted, expired and misbranded drugs were also seized from their stocks.

Talking to newsmen, Drug Controller Syed Tariq Masood Shah said that a huge quantity of substandard capsules that were being used for delivery cases have also been recovered.

He said that samples of Duphaston (tablet) and Acyclovir (injection) which were collected from a pharmacy will be sent for a lab test and results will determine if action needs to be taken.

He added that spurious drugs were also recovered from a pharmacy and an FIR has been registered against the owner.

While giving details about action taken by the department against the mafia playing with human health and life, Mr Shah said this year 388 samples of medicines, collected from different pharmacies, were sent to the laboratory.

FIRs have been registered against the store owners whose medicines were found spurious and substandard, he added.

So far, fines worth Rs3 million have been collected from different pharmacy owners and the amount has been deposited in the national kitty, he added.

He said Deputy Commissioner Attock Ali Anan Qamar had issued directions that strict action must be taken against quacks and medical stores which were involved in business of spurious and substandard medicines.

Published in Dawn, December 28th, 2019