ISLAMABAD, March 12: The government on Wednesday announced to launch a drive against spurious and expired drugs throughout the country.

The announcement was made by the health minister, Muhammad Nasir Khan, while talking to a delegation of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) of Nigeria.

The health minister said the government had reasonably good system to monitor the drug industries but still there was a need of war against spurious and expired drugs.

The minister said two more Centres of Excellence Laboratories would be established in the country to monitor the quality of drugs.

Miss Dora Nkem Akunyiti, the director-general, NAFDAC, informed the minister that she was running a semi-autonomous agency in Nigeria, which is working to regulate drugs, food, cosmetics, medical devices and bottled water.

She said there was prevalence of fake and substandard drugs imported from different countries, including Pakistan. Pakistan being friendly country and having good relation with Nigeria, “This practice would bring a bad name to Pakistan,” she added.

She proposed that any drugs exported from Pakistan to Nigeria should be given pre-shipment inspection certificate and that should be intimated to her agency accordingly.

The minister, meanwhile, directed the drug controller to implement the proposal and keep liaison with the agency.

He suggested that Pharma industries of Pakistan and Nigeria should hold workshops on mutual basis to highlight the problems and make proposals for their solution.

Meanwhile, the chairman of chemists and druggists association, Punjab, Hanif Abbasi, said his organization would support the government in its drive against spurious drugs provided the entire campaign run honestly and did not target the local pharmaceutical companies only.

He apprehended that such a campaign would target locally manufactured medicines to give benefit to multi-national companies (MNCs).

“This is unfortunate that our ministers always support multi-national companies at the cost of the local pharmaceutical companies,” he deplored.