PESHAWAR, Feb 12: The National Accountability Bureau, in collaboration with the ministry of health, is launching a drive against sale of spurious drugs and quackery in the country, officials said.

Talking to Dawn, the officials said that NAB and the ministry of health were discussing a modus operandi to launch 'Shafaf Pakistan' drive aimed at checking corruption and malpractice in every department.

They said there were many laws pertaining to the sale of drugs, but implementation of those laws remained a far cry owing to corrupt drug inspectors who took bribe from chemists and quacks allowing them to play with peoples' lives.

"Lately," the officials said, "the practice of quackery has assumed alarming proportions with people falling prey to dangerous diseases such as hepatitis B and C."

Referring to surveys conducted by the World Health Organisation in Nowshera and Buner districts, these sources said that 30 per cent of the patients in these towns had got the disease from substandard treatment at the hands of quacks.

They said there were about 8,000 registered medical stores in the NWFP, but the number of unregistered outlets was more than 10,000.

"The drug inspectors involving in corruption would be taken to task so that they cannot protect the quacks," the officials said.