LAHORE: After investigating the alleged import and sale of unregistered, overpriced and substandard cardiac stents in Punjab, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has held the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Drap), Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Punjab government and importers responsible for the fiasco.

In a report it formulated after investigating the situation at several hospitals, the FIA said that Drap did not monitor the affairs of registered companies and no importer obtained import licence or clearance from it.

“Drap does not fix the prices of stents; even the chairman of the registration board does not send a case to the pricing board for fixation of price, which is mandatory before registration of any drug,” said the report.

“The chairman of the pricing board is also not bothered to ask the chairman [of] registration how the stents have been registered without price fixation.”

The role of FBR also raised many questions, said the report. “The FBR does not demand the import licences from importers regarding import of stents. The FBR does not demand clearance from ADC [Assistant Drug Controller] about the importer, which is mandatory to release any drug from the Customs port,” it said.

The Punjab government’s “poor efforts” to check the illegal trend was also assailed by the agency, which pointed out that the executive district officer for health failed to impose checks on sale or purchase of stents after the issuance of Drug Sale Licences to respective companies.

Published in Dawn, February 13th, 2017