Interior Minister Rehman Malik. – File Photo by APP

ISLAMABAD: Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Friday vowed to probe the faulty test reports by local laboratories in the spurious drugs case, DawnNews reported.

Speaking at a National Assembly session, Malik informed the house about adding names of owners of the involved pharmaceutical companies in the Exit Control List (ECL).

On Wednesday, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had told the media that a British laboratory had found 50mg of an anti-malarial agent in Isotab produced by Efroze Chemicals in Karachi.

According to Sharif, local laboratories from Karachi to Peshawar had declared the suspected medicines usable.

The suspected drugs’ reaction claimed lives of another eight patients on Thursday, raising the death toll to 127 in Punjab.

Malik said that he has ordered an investigation to find out whether the Pakistani laboratories were not properly equipped for conducting such tests or if someone had directed them to produce these reports.

The minister said that all substandard medicines had been confiscated from Punjab and then from Karachi, adding that he has also directed all medical stores to not issue medicines without prescription.

Opinion

Editorial

Privatisation divide
Updated 14 May, 2024

Privatisation divide

How this disagreement within the government will sit with the IMF is anybody’s guess.
AJK protests
14 May, 2024

AJK protests

SINCE last week, Azad Jammu & Kashmir has been roiled by protests, fuelled principally by a disconnect between...
Guns and guards
14 May, 2024

Guns and guards

THERE are some flawed aspects to our society that we must start to fix at the grassroots level. One of these is the...
Spending restrictions
Updated 13 May, 2024

Spending restrictions

The country's "recovery" in recent months remains fragile and any shock at this point can mean a relapse.
Climate authority
13 May, 2024

Climate authority

WITH the authorities dragging their feet for seven years on the establishment of a Climate Change Authority and...
Vending organs
13 May, 2024

Vending organs

IN these cash-strapped times, black marketers in the organ trade are returning to rake it in by harvesting the ...