Rented registration certificates: drive against pharmacies launched across Punjab

Punjab Drug Authority on Saturday started crackdown on pharmacies and medical stores running on rented registration certificates and selling intoxicants to make some quick money. An official of Punjab Drug Authority told Business Recorder that the provincial government will ensure the presence of a licensed pharmacist in person at all medical stores.
He said several chemist shops are run by persons who have licences earned against a monthly rent.
These medical stores sell pharmaceutical drugs used by youth as intoxicants.
The provincial authority had instructed display of pharmacist licence along with the photograph at a prominent place in the chemist shop and regular monitoring of such shops by authorities concerned.
It also directed that the licence displayed in the chemist shops should be verified by the authorities with the concerned pharmacy council to guarantee genuineness of the certificates.
According to Drug Authority, around 90 per cent medical stores are being run without a pharmacist in the province.
Hundreds of medical stores had been sealed in the province for not having pharmacists.
An estimated 20,000 medical stores are in Punjab, while 4,000 are operating only in Rawalpindi and 85 per cent of those are being run without pharmacists.
During the current crackdown on the medical stores being run without pharmacists, over 200 have been sealed in Punjab so far.
The Drug Court in Lahore delivered a verdict a few weeks ago to seal all medical stores which are being run without pharmacists.
Owners of pharmacies and medical stores across Punjab have given April 25 as a deadline for shutter-down strike for an indefinite period against the efforts of the Punjab government to regularize the sector.
They are concerned over the current Drug Act which, according to them, is against them as they are being penalized heavily against alleged small offences.
The government believes that it is doing what it can to protect the public against the use of fake or counterfeit medicines.
The decision to stage the protest and call for strike was taken after expiry of deadline of April 11.
The meeting was attended by 13 different representatives of pharmaceutical companies, distributors, wholesalers, pharmacists, chain pharmacies, Homeo, Tib, Unani and Herbal medicine makers, dealers and retailers. Pakistan Young Pharmacist Association and Pakistan Drug Lawyers Forum were also among the participants of the meeting.
President Drug Union Punjab, Malik Arshad Awan told Business Recorder that pharmacies and medical stores across Punjab would go on strike on April 25 till their demands are met.
They demanded the government to amend the Drug Act 1976, particularly with regards to those sections which, according to them, are against the pharmaceutical community.
Pakistan Pharmaceutical Industry Report 2017 states that most of firms are in province of the Punjab in terms of production, capacity utilization, volume and size of business.
According to the report, out of 759 firms, 440 are located in Punjab.
Awan blamed that due to non-serious attitude of Punjab government, the exports of pharmaceutical industry have gone down by 50 percent for last four years.
He said the advertisements against the pharmacists in local and international newspapers have badly affected their business abroad.
Pharmaceutical Industry Report 2017 highlighted that in 2002, the foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Pakistani pharmaceutical sector was $7.2 million. By 2008, this number increased to $46.5 million. By the end of 2012, this number dropped to $3 million.
By 2014, it recovered somewhat to $15.7 million, but actually went down to negative in 2015 after which it rose up to only $3.3 million in 2016.
The Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments announced changes to their rules that were enacted in Drug Act 1976 and 1982 respectively.