PESHAWAR, Sept 13: NWFP Health Minister Inayatullah Khan has said the provincial government will encourage local drug manufacturers because it wants the pharmaceutical industry to grow. He was talking to a delegation of the Sarhad Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association on Thursday.

Health secretary, senior officials of the health department, president of the Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industries Liaqat Ahmad Khan and representatives of various drug manufacturing firms attended the meeting.

The delegates briefed the minister about their doubts over the new policy of the Medical Coordination Council and called for relaxation in the income limit of Rs15 million as a pre-qualification condition.

The health minister ordered that preference be given to quality-conscious firms in the process. “The government will not compromise on quality of medicines,” he said.

Mr Khan ordered the formation of a committee under the additional secretary health to review the medical council policy and submit its report within a week.

Other members of the committee are the deputy drugs secretary and two pharmacists besides the representatives of manufacturers.

The secretary told the delegates that the policy had been chalked out in the light of guidelines approved by the federal ministry of health. Discussing salient features of the policy, he said that it envisaged pre-qualification of manufacturers only.