ISLAMABAD: Young Pharmacists Association (YPA) President Dr Muhammad Usman on Wednesday said Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) CEO Aslam Afghani with the connivance of State Minister for National Health and Services Saira Afzal Tarar “imported fake stents and substandard medicine”.
Usman was flanked by Drug Lawyers Forum (DLF) President Noor Muhammad in a press briefing.
They said Afghani is a shareholder in the company that is providing substandard stents to public hospitals. They also said Afghani was also involved in embezzlement of DRAP’s fund. They appealed to Chief Justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar to take notice of this serious issue.
Noor said the entire record regarding the registration of 80,000 medicines has vanished from the DRAP office soon after Afghani took charge.
They alleged that DRAP did not have data of registration of medicine and the authority notifies data provided by manufacturers and importers in the official gazette of Pakistan.
“A letter in this regard is available on the official website of the authority dated January 3rd 2017 Dy No.657/2016-Reg-IV signed by secretary registration board,” he said.
The DLF president said the Lahore High Court (LHC) has sought reply from DRAP in this regard on Thursday (today).
“Current CEO has replaced all the files of two pharmaceutical companies of which he holds share within a month,” said Noor.
He said letters have been written to prime minister, president, chief ministers and law enforcers in April 2015.
Usman said, “Export of medicines has decreased from $220 million to $120 million and imports increased from $409 million to $619 million.”
He also said Afghani registered heart stents from two inferior Chinese sources with prices between Rs 2,000 and Rs 4,000 per stent.
“These stents are being sold in the country between Rs 100,000 and Rs 250,000,” he said.
He alleged that the Drugs Act has been set aside and on a single registration letter 11 licences were granted without mentioning the price in September 2016.
As many as 292 patients at the Punjab Institute of Cardiology died after using tablet Isotab manufactured by Efroze pharmacy in 2012. The DRAP CEO owns this company.
