ISLAMABAD, May 12: The Supreme Court on Friday asked the federal drug controllers to ensure voluntary destruction of expired medicines by pharmaceutical manufacturers and that life-saving medicines are not sold without doctors’ prescriptions.

In a suo motu action, a bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, Justice Saiyed Saeed Ashhad and Justice Hamid Ali Mirza directed the health ministry to notify all pharmaceutical manufacturers to check their stocks and destroy expired medicines within 15 days as laid down in the Drugs Act.

After expiry of the period, a campaign will be launched by the government to check such medicines.

A notification will be issued by the health ministry to restrict sale of life-saving drugs without prescriptions.

The bench was hearing a complaint of Dr Shamsuz Zaman Soomro about Ceftriaxone Sodium being produced by Robins Pharmaceuticals and Lyod’s Pharmaceuticals. A specimen of the product had been preserved by the complainant, which, he claimed, he had bought for Rs70 against its original price of Rs495.

We need complete control of spurious medicines because the right to life has been guaranteed in the constitution, the bench observed.

Justice Mirza observed during the hearing that officials of the ministry sometimes demanded bribe for granting of licence to pharmaceutical companies.

Health Secretary Anwar Mehmood explained the procedure and informed the court that the ministry had formed a 22-member board to consider cases regarding registration and licensing to manufacture medicines. The board included representatives of the Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association and the Network for Consumer’s Protection. Earlier, senior ministry officials used to approve such licences.

A 12-member committee had been formed to approve prices of medicines, he said.

The court ordered that the board should dispose of all cases without delay.

A direction was issued to ensure that medicines were sold only at licensed medical stores.

The provincial governments were told to ensure that medicines were sold by qualified persons.

The secretary informed the court that the government was considering proposals to create a cadre of pharmaceutical assistance because there were hardly 10,000 qualified pharmacists in the country as compared to 60,000 medical stores.

The federal and provincial governments were directed to prepare a guideline within four months for availability of qualified personnel in drug stores.

Ayaz Kiani, Executive Coordinator of the Network for Consumer’s Protection, told the court about similar efforts in the past, where commissions were formed but due to lack of budgetary allocations, monitoring and evaluation system their recommendations could not be implemented.

The Supreme Court directed its registrar to upload the recommendations of the health ministry on its website. The ministry was told to do the same on its own website.

People were asked to send information or suggestions about availability of spurious drugs through e-mail and letters.

An awareness campaign would be launched by the government in the media in this regard.

The federal and provincial governments would submit fortnightly reports to the apex court, which it would consider when the hearing resumed after four months.