LAHORE: The World Health Organisation (WHO) has pre-qualified two more public-sector drug testing laboratories of Punjab, raising the number of such facilities to five in the province.

Punjab Minister for Primary and Secondary Healthcare Dr Jamal Nasir said this while chairing a meeting of the provincial quality control board here on Monday, called to review the cases of new medicines being manufactured in Punjab.

The minister claims that Pakistan now ranks highest in the world with regard to the number of drug testing laboratories pre-qualified by the WHO in a country.

The world health body has certified that these laboratories in Punjab are “operating [in accordance] with WHO good practices for pharmaceutical Quality Control Laboratories guidelines,” he adds.

Dr Nasir observes that certification of the government drug testing laboratories in Punjab is an evidence of the confidence which the WHO has reposed in these research and diagnostic centres.

It is also a matter of honour for the entire nation, the minister says, adding that the newly pre-qualified laboratories were situated on the Birdwood Road Lahore and in Multan.

The drug testing laboratories situated in the Sundar Industrial Estate, Lahore, in Rawalpindi and in Faisalabad had already been pre-qualified by the WHO.

A WHO delegation will carry out final inspection of a drug-testing laboratory at Bahawalpur as well in near future for the same purpose, the minister says.

He say the WHO-certified laboratories will help prevent manufacturing and supply of substandard and unsafe medicines to the people of the province.

Dr Nasir says the pharmaceutical companies operating in Punjab should strictly adhere to international standards for manufacturing medicines.

He says no one can be allowed to play with human lives by manufacturing spurious or substandard medicines, pledging zero tolerance for the companies which did not manufacture standard medicines.

Published in Dawn, August 8th, 2023