ISLAMABAD: The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Drap) is going to have a tough time as Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has started an investigation into a number of decisions the authority took during the last one decade, including enlisting 50,000 medicines without fixing their prices.

According to a document available with Dawn, an inquiry has been launched in the office of the FIA’s additional director general north under the supervision of the director coordination to probe into the decisions.

The documents showed that Drap allegedly enlisted tens of thousands of medicines without fixing the prices.

The authority issued licences to import medicines from India by misuse of power since 2012. Officers of the authority enjoyed foreign tours at the expense of pharmaceutical companies.

Drap paid Rs280 million as rent for its office whereas it could have built its own office in Rs30 million. Shifa International Hospital Islamabad was selling medicines to indoor patients at 25 per cent higher rates than the maximum retail prices (MRPs). The document also stated that explanation would also be sought from Drap regarding authority’s former chief executive officer (CEO) Sheikh Akhtar Hussain who declared himself dead in a NAB reference but continued working in Drap.

A senior official of the Ministry of National Health Services (NHS), requesting not to be quoted, said that during the tenure of the PTI government when Aamer Mehmood Kiani was the health minister, thousands of medicines were enlisted under the category of Health and Over-the-Counter (OTC).

“Under the Drug and Cosmetics Act 1940, around 90,000 medicines were registered with prices mentioned on them. Of these, 50,000 medicines remained available in different areas of the country. However, during last six to eight years, enlistment of medicines without prices was started and currently the number of enlisted medicines has reached 50,000. Companies which were once selling medicines having MRPs of a few hundred rupees stopped manufacturing their medicines and enlisted same or similar medicines under the category of H and OTC which are being sold for thousands of rupees,” he said.

The official said that during the tenure of the PTI government in 2019, the then Secretary Health Zahid Saeed requested the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) for an audit of the enlistment of medicines without fixing prices and the AGP office identified a number of medicines of which manufacturing was stopped and which were being sold with different names under the H and OTC category at higher rates.

“There are two issues with the enlisted medicines i.e. they are being sold at exorbitant rates and there are also issues related to their quality. Moreover, former CEO Sheikh Akhtar Hussain’s service was terminated by the federal cabinet in March 2021 and later Islamabad High Court also rejected his petition. But he has been getting financial benefits from Drap,” he alleged.

According to another document, Sheikh Akhtar Hussain got over Rs2.5 million as encashment of leave prior retirement (LPR) in the financial year 2022-23.

When contacted, health ministry’s spokesperson Sajid Shah said that Drap takes every step considering rules and regulations and will submit a satisfactory reply to the FIA.

Published in Dawn, March 31st, 2023