ISLAMABAD: President Mamnoon Hussain has taken notice of downward trend in the country’s pharmaceutical exports and urged relevant quarters to take remedial measures to meet the export target of the industry.

He presided over a meeting at the Presidency on Friday during which representatives of the Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers’ Association (PPMA) gave a presentation.

A spokesperson for the president, while giving details of the meeting, said that Mr Hussain expressed dissatisfaction at the prevailing volume of pharmaceutical exports and directed the Ministry of National Health Services and PPMA to immediately submit cogent recommendations in order to boost pharmaceutical exports to realise its full potential.

The presentation was also attended by secretaries of the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination and the Ministry of Commerce.

According to the data available with Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS), downward trend has been observed in the export of pharmaceutical items.

In the current fiscal year pharmaceutical items amounting to $152.67 million have been exported against $158.82 million products last year.

Similarly, the volume of exported pharmaceutical products in the current fiscal year was 8,483 metric tonnes against 11,451 metric tonnes of last year with 25.9 per cent decline.

The president underscored the need for early functioning of Federal Drug Surveillance Laboratory (FDSL) in Islamabad to fulfil the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) requirements and provide necessary certification to facilitate pharmaceutical exports to the international market.

Mr Mamnoon directed the secretary health to ensure that the lab will start its operation as early as possible.

He said the PPMA needed to work hard to increase pharmaceutical exports by removing impediments and ensuring high standards of quality control to attract foreign buyers. He assured pharmaceutical manufacturers of all necessary help by the government.

The representatives of PPMA briefed the president on the issues pertaining to phar­­­­­ma­­­­­­ce­­­­­­­­­­­­uti­­­­­­­­cal industry and thanked him for his keen interest in promoting pharmaceutical exports.

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2016