An overlooked side
During the ongoing tragedy that cost 100+ valuable lives of poor patients, so far, due to the consumption of adulterated and sub-standard drugs at Punjab Institute of Cardiology, blame game for political point scoring is at its peak. Drug regulatory authorities found themselves in hot water about their performance and their capabilities. In search of scape goat, Drug inspectors and Assistant Drug Controllers emerged as sitting ducks. Almost everyone, after reading some news stories, and after watching some news alerts is setting up his own court and passing his verdict that it is due to the criminal negligence of drug inspectors.
Everyone has right to keep his own opinion; but no one should blame others without knowing fact and having sound evidences.
After reading the following report that was published in Daily Express Karachi - Saturday, February 4, 2012 a radical change may occur in your stance.
Importance of a Functional Drug Testing Laboratory
Whenever a drug inspector takes a sample of drug for the purpose of testing or analysis he is bound to send a portion of sample to the government analyst of concerned drug testing laboratory under clause (i) of sub section (3) of Section (19) of the Drugs Act 1976.
Under sub section(1) of Section (22) of The Drugs Act, Government analyst deliver a copy of his report to the drug inspector.
and what is the worth of this report???????
sub section (4) of section (22) states
".........any document purporting to be a report signed by a Government analyst shall be admissible as evidence of the facts stated therein without formal proof and such evidence shall be conclusive......."
that's why the report of drug analyst is the most important part of a inspector's prosecution in a drug court.
Those who are allergic to too much references of laws, I present a summary,
" After taking a sample of suspected drugs, inspector will analyze that from a govt. analyst, whose report shall be treated as evidence and sometimes conclusive"
Conclusion
In the absence of a functional drug testing laboratory, a drug inspector will be unable to prosecute properly in case of adulterated, substandard, spurious and misbranded drug. This in turn encourages the culprit opportunists.
It is a matter of grave concern, indeed a matter of life and death in our Pakistan where the presence of spurious drugs in the market is a known problem. The federal and provincial governments must upgrade their drug testing labs to international standards.
Regards
Kamran Zaheer
kamranzaheer.blogspot.com
Note: I am not advocating concerned govt. officials, instead i am trying to draw your kind attention towards an overlooked angle.
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