LAHORE: The Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department (PSHD) has initiated crackdown on spurious, unregistered and substandard medicines across the province.

Primary and Secondary Healthcare Minister Khwaja Imran Nazeer said the action aims at eliminating the manufacturing and sale of counterfeit drugs that pose serious risks to public health.

He told the media after conducting surprise raids on the PHP Pharma and Opal Pharma located on Multan Road here on Thursday that the government had labelled dealers and manufacturers of spurious medicines as enemy of humanity.

He said these pharma were involved in manufacturing the unregistered homeopathic and herbal products, upon which these units were sealed and their products were seized and samples sent to DTL for testing.

Emphasising the importance of the crackdown, Imran Nazeer said the chief minister task force is actively engaged in targeting manufacturers and sellers of spurious drugs, ensuring a sustained effort to combat the issue.

He maintained that the province would be purged of spurious drugs through these measures.

No compromise will be made on the quality and unhygienic conditions, he said adding that the crackdown started from Faisalabad where a racket involved in supply of spurious and substandard drugs to the hospital patients was unearthed.

Published in Dawn, March 15th, 2024