SIALKOT, Nov 8: Large-scale exports of un-finished and semi-finished forgings to neighbouring countries especially India and China have put the Sialkot’s surgical industry into a severe financial crisis.

Surgical instruments manufacturers and exporters have said that despite repeated appeals, the federal government and the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) could not take any practical steps for checking exports of un-finished and semi-finished forgings from Sialkot, Daska and surrounding areas to neighbouring countries.

Talking to newsmen here on Thursday, Surgical Instruments Manufacturers Association (SIMA) chairman Aamir Riaz Bhinder said the industry was facing multiple problems, including increase in utility prices and non-availability of raw material.

He said for the past few months, some suppliers with the involvement of customs officials, had been exporting surgical forgings to India at 25 per cent regulatory duty as a result the industry was suffering badly.

The Sima chief said the industry had demanded of the Central Board of Revenue to impose 200 per cent regulatory duty on exports of forgings, but it did not take any step.

He said: “Forgings are the basic component of surgical instruments manufacturing and it is the main reason behind our success in this field as compared to other countries, especially India. These countries are trying to enter into this field on the basis of our technology, which they lack.”

The SIMA chief has urged the federal government to impose a complete ban on exports of surgical forgings or levy 200 per cent regulatory duty from July 1, 2007 in the larger interest of the country.