PESHAWAR: Authorities have seized huge quantity of drugs stolen from Punjab hospitals last month during a raid in Nowshera as sale of medicines meant for the admitted patients at government hospitals continues, according to senior officials.

Sources said that drugs stamped as ‘not-for-sale’ were also stolen from local hospitals that were sold by chemists in rural areas.

Senior drug inspectors told Dawn that the seized medicines valued about Rs46 million that included anti-biotic, analgesic and vitamins etc. They said that the drugs were brought from Punjab for sale and distribution in the markets of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

They said that mostly from multinational manufacturing firms, the drugs were purchased in bulk by the government for supplying to hospitals, part of which ended up in markets in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The drug inspectors said that case was being investigated against the suspects over stolen medicines seized from a house in a raid on a house in Nowshera district a month ago.

Medicines stolen from Punjab hospitals seized in Nowshera; no arrests made

The medicines contain about 15 types of pharmaceutical preparations mostly costly ones have been stored in the offices of Nowshera district health officer temporarily for two days but now the authorities concerned have sent a request to the provincial health department to seek guidance regarding the storage of drugs at appropriate place.

They said that health department was requested that there was fear of damage to the drugs because the place was not secure. “The drugs lie in servant lodges in DHO offices that include syrups, capsules and tablets, which may get destroyed if not stored properly,” they said.

Sources said that illegal sale of drugs had become a lucrative business in the province and markets in Peshawar were replete with all sorts of medicines smuggled from India, Iran, China and other countries that were not registered in the country and therefore couldn’t be trusted.

They said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had the services of 55 drugs inspectors, who were required to check about 10,000 medical stores, a difficult task.

Sources said that they had been seizing small quantity of drugs stolen from hospitals frequently. These were stamped “not-for-sale” and were sold to the retailers at nominal price by the hospital staff, they added.

Sources said that not only medicines but disposable surgical items meant for patients at the hospitals were also being sold to the shops at throwaway price but the perpetrators often remained free owing to the long process of registration of cases and prosecution.

“The main challenge is illegal sale of unregistered and fake drugs, which are brought to the province’s main markets from where these are supplied to nook and corner of the province,” said sources. To cope with the issue, health department needed the services of the law-enforcement agencies to lay hands on the powerful people involved in the business, they said.

“It is the second time that such a big cache of Punjab’s drugs has been seized by the inspectors in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but arrests haven’t been made,” they said.

Two months ago, authorities seized huge quantity of drugs in Karkhano Market but none was arrested despite the presence of personnel of law enforcement agencies, they said.

Sources said that drug inspectors could not raid illegal shops without the support of law enforcers due to fear of resistance but the people involved in the illegal business often avoided arrests even in the presence of officials of police and Federal Investigation Agency.

Published in Dawn, January 24th, 2020