LAHORE: The primary and secondary healthcare department has declared a batch of a medicine, manufactured by a company owned by the wife of Punjab Health Minister Prof Javed Akram, as “substandard and “adulterated”, issuing directions to recall the same from the market all over the country, warning that it may “pose risk” to people’s health.

The action was initiated in the light of a report of the Punjab Drug Testing Laboratory (DTL) which has found traces of another drug (Paracetamol) in a batch of the medicine manufactured by M/S Don Valley Pharmaceutical (Pvt) Ltd.

The issue got hype when it turned out that the company which manufactured the “substandard” drug is owned by Punjab caretaker health minister’s wife Shehla Javed. Prof Akram is currently minister of the specialised healthcare department.

“It has been reported by the Punjab Drug Testing Laboratory in Faisalabad that the drug, Resotin [tablets], has been found adulterated and substandard,” reads the report (a copy of which is available with Dawn).

Secretary orders recalling of the drug batch

It reported that the drug was distributed under a specific batch, that was found to be adulterated.

A sample of the medicine drawn by the field staff from the market and sent to the DTL was found adulterated when analysed, says an official.

After the Faisalabad DTL report, Directorate Health Services Punjab brought the matter to the notice of primary and secondary healthcare department secretary Ali Jan, who ordered the officers concerned to initiate action against the company, he says, adding that the secretary had also been informed by the directorate that the manufacturing company is owned by the caretaker minister’s wife.

Following the health secretary’s orders, the provincial Pharmaco Vigilance Centre generated a public alert about the “substandard” drug and issued instructions to the field staff to recall the its specific batch from the market all over the country.

“All the retailers [pharmacies, medical stores] wholesalers, distributors and health facilities are directed to immediately stop the dispensation of the specified batch and update the respective area drug inspectors regarding their current inventory and consumption record of the above-mentioned batch”, reads the public notice.

The centre also issued another ‘advice for consumers/general public’, stating, “All consumers (patients, healthcare professionals) are directed to stop use of above said batch immediately as they may pose risk to health”.

Shehla Javed, the chief executive officer of M/S Don Valley Pharmaceutical (Pvt) Ltd rejected the report, saying the matter of alleged adulteration in her company’s drug meant for treatment of allergy needs to be investigated.

“Firstly, the traces, as claimed by the department’s report, were of the Paracetamol medicine which itself was a safe drug”, she said, adding that her company had already issued instructions to recall the said batch of the drug voluntarily from the market, keeping in view the safety of the patients.

“There were allegedly unconfirmed reports of contamination of traces of Paracetamol by Punjab drug control department, which the company denies,” Ms Javed says.

However, she says, as a quality conscious company if any deviation by anybody was reported in the product, the entire batch has been voluntarily recalled till the ongoing investigation, and this has been done several times by her company in the past as a safety measures for the patients and public at large.

The Paracetamol contamination in traces can never be fatal or injurious to health, the CEO of the private firm stresses.

She adds that more than 1,000 drugs are recalled every year all over the world voluntarily, creating a room for better regulation of the industry.

Unfortunately, this practice has been uncommon in Pakistan and her company took the initiative to recall the drug from the market as a goodwill gesture to be followed by the others, Ms Javed says.

She says that total 50,000 units/packs (each pack containing 10 tablets) were manufactured and released to the markets under the said batch a few months back.

Some 18,000 packs of the recalled drug have reached back to the company’s stock, she says, claiming that the company got them analysed again at its own lab, but no traces of Paracetamol are found.

Published in Dawn, August 24th, 2023