All Fingers are not the same!

Punjab's notorious drugs are taken off from Karachi Medicine Market
Thursday, January 26, 2012

Wholesalers of medicines on Wednesday halted the sale of supposedly deadly cholesterol-lowering drugs prescribed to heart patients in the city after their reported intake caused over 80 deaths in Lahore, while hundreds of others fell ill due to adverse reactions.

A visit to the Karachi Medicine Market on Marriot Road (Katchi Gali) and interviews with wholesalers revealed that the suspicious cholesterol drugs were not being sold to retailers and buyers, while their supply to pharmacies of public and private hospitals had also been stopped.

Chemists and druggists in the wholesale market told The News that the office-bearers of their association, the All Karachi Wholesale Chemists and Druggists Association — through a circular — asked all members to remove these potentially deadly medicines from the market.

They said that their president, Ghulam Noorani, along with concerned drug inspectors, visited the medicine market and advised wholesalers not to sell the suspicious drugs and return all the stock to the companies.

The suspected drugs included Cardiovastin (simvastatin) of Mega Pharma, Soloprin (Asprin) of Pharmawise, Alfagril (Clopidogril) of Alfa Pharma, Isotab of Efroze Pharma, Atenolol of Zafa Pharma and Corcont of Swiss Pharma. 

President of the Chemists’ Association Ghulam Noorani initially denied that the drugs suspected to have resulted in the deaths of several heart patients in Lahore were being marketed or sold in Karachi. However, he later admitted that members had been advised not to sell them.

An effort by The News to purchase these medicines from stores failed as chemists and pharmacists all over the city refused to stock them. Some known pharmacies in the city, however, were still selling Simvastatin and Soloprin made by multinational pharmaceutical companies. They claim that thousands of patients use them on a daily basis to prevent complications resulting from heart ailments on the advice of cardiologists.

Some cardiologists, while talking to The News, said some of the drugs that were suspected to have caused deaths were well-known and tested medicines that were prescribed to millions of heart patients across the globe.

“Simvastatin and Soloprin are very effective and reputed salts that are prescribed by cardiologists the world over. What happened in Lahore is still a mystery as side effects of these drugs don’t cause such symptoms or deaths, as was reported there,” Dr Ahmed Salman, a cardiologist at the NICVD, said.

He said authorities in Punjab were investigating the cause of the deaths, while the drugs were being chemically analysed to ascertain what went wrong. Otherwise, all the drugs are highly safe and should not cause death. 

Dr Ghauri said some of his patients were inquiring whether to continue using these drugs. He advised them not to use drugs made by local pharmaceutical companies. On the other hand, Sindh Health Minister Dr Sagheer Ahmed advised the masses, especially heart patients, to refrain from taking the potentially deadly medicines of local pharmaceutical companies. He added that drug inspectors had been asked to ensure that these medicines were not available at medical stores.

“People, especially heart patients, should not use Cardiovastin (simvastatin) of Mega Pharma, Soloprin (Asprin) of Pharmawise, Alfagril (Clopidogril) of Alfa Pharma, Isotab of Efroze Pharma, Atenolol of Zafa Pharma and Corcont of Swiss Pharma,” he advised.

Meanwhile, Sindh Chief Drug Inspector Saleem Isharat, along with other officials, inspected pharmacies of the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, the Karachi Institute of Heart Diseases (KIHD), the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), the Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK), the Abbassi Shaheed Hospital and several other public hospitals to ensure that tainted drugs were not being sold at these health facilities.

Drug inspectors also visited Swiss Pharma and Zafa Pharma manufacturing facilities in Karachi, besides taking samples of Corcont and Atenolol. They directed the managements of concerned companies not to sell these medicines unless they are cleared by the drug-testing laboratories.


http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=89443&Cat=4&dt=1/26/2012
Thanks : The News International





My Opinion, My View:

I have something to say about the text which i have highlighted in red. I m very much optimist that these might not be the exact wordings of Dr Ghauri and Dr Sagheer Ahmed that not to use medicines made by local companies.

Local Pharmaceutical companies rather i would say National Pharmaceutical companies are not as bad as are being purports by these comments. I am not nor i will advocate the companies (rather i name them as factories) who are not making medicine but making medicine like things. Most of our National Pharmaceutical companies are producing quality medicines while following Good Manufacturing Practices since long.

All fingers are not the same!!!!!

Kamran Zaheer