ISLAMABAD: The federal agencies investigating the death of dozens of cardiac patients, caused by fake drugs issued by the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC), have taken into custody the medicine stocks and hospital record, and put names of owner/directors of three drug manufacturing companies on the Exit Control List to stop them from fleeing abroad, official sources confirmed on Thursday.
According to the documents available with The News, the PIC had purchased over five million tablets from three pharmaceutical companies — Pharma Wise Laboratories, Township Lahore, Al-Falah Pharma (Pvt) Limited, Sheikhupura Road, Lahore, and Mega Pharmaceutical Limited, Raiwind, Lahore. The documents said Alfagril tablet was purchased in the quantity of 2,023,000, Solprin tablet, 1,000,000, and Cardiovastin tablet was purchased in the quantity of 2,000,000 units.
The hospital record said the drug testing laboratory in Lahore had cleared these medicines and declared them fit for human use, and then payments were made to these companies. The federal agency has sent samples of these drugs to the Federal Central Drug Testing Laboratory to ascertain if these drugs were injurious to human health.
The federal government has come to know about a startling fact that two pharmaceutical companies purchased inactive raw material from the local market instead of importing it from abroad.
According to the record, the Drug Formulation Licence of one company had expired in April 2011 and the company failed to provide any validation of its licence. The sources said the licences presented by the manufacturing companies were fake and only one company could present documents about import of raw material. However, this company also purchased most of raw material from the local market, which is against the rules and also injurious to health.
Sources said the PIC administration had failed to provide the relevant record despite passage of five days. The sources said two reminders have also been sent to the hospital administration in this regard, but to no avail. The Punjab government has also not disclosed particulars of the drug inspectors who were responsible for the inspection of these companies.
The original article can be found at The News.
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