A parliamentary committee on Tuesday expressed concerns over sale of low quality medicines (local) instead of medicines manufactured by multinational companies at the private pharmacies of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), the largest hospital of the federal capital.
The Senate Standing Committee on National Health Services, which met here in the chair of Senator Khushbakht Shujaat, took serious notice of the private pharmacies at PIMS. It was asserted that quality of medicines must not be compromised. The sale of low quality medicines should be stopped at private pharmacies (Imran Pharmacy) at PIMS in order to benefit patients.
Senator Dr Ashok Kumar told the committee that sale of low quality medicines was under way at private pharmacies and it only provided financial benefit to owner of the pharmacy. He said PIMS management needed to ensure that pharmacies at PIMS sold only medicines of multinational companies.
A number of patients talking to Business Recorder said that pharmacies set up inside PIMS not only sold low quality medicines but also provided medicines which were not prescribed by the doctors.
A female patient said she went to PIMS after developing some chest problem and fever. The doctor, according to the prescription, recommended her tablet Karicid 500 mg, tablet Arinac Fort and capsule Nexum 400 mg. When she along her brother went to the pharmacy located inside the hospital to purchase medicines, the staff at the pharmacy provided them tablet Ranker 500 mg instead of Karicid and tablet Actifed P-cold instead of Arinac.
Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on National Health Services Dr Zafar Mirza told the committee that his ministry would investigate the matter and submit report before the committee in that regard. He further said that PIMS Reforms Bill 2019 was ready and his ministry had forwarded it to Ministry of Law and Justice for vetting.
"Following the passage of new law from the Parliament, all problems related to the hospital including sale of low quality medicine would be addressed," he said, adding the government wanted to introduce reforms in PIMS like reforms introduced in the hospitals of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
He said the government was launching new website of Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) in the next few days. The new website of PMC doctors would help doctors register themselves online instead of visiting of PMC office, he said.
Mirza said the fact-finding inquiry committee, set up to probe the death of a patient Dr Adnan Mehboob at Burn Care Centre (BCC) PIMS, had prepared an interim report and would submit the final report in the next few days. According to relatives of the deceased, Mehboob died at BCC in February this year due to delay in providing treatment to him by the doctors on duty.
The committee took serious notice of decline in performance of the surgical department of PIMS during the last four years. While discussing starred question regarding construction of Shifa International Hospital on charity land, the committee directed chairman Capital Development Authority (CDA) to submit the original allotment letter to the committee along with the first request of Shifa International Hospital for allotment of land.
The committee will take up the issues of appointments in the health sector and minimum qualification for homeopathic courses in the next meeting. The meeting was attended by Senator Sana Jamali, Senator Dr Asad Ashraf, Senator Dilawar Khan, Senator Dr Ghous Muhammad Khan Niazi, Senator Syed Muhammad Ali Jamote, Senator Sardar Muhammad Shafiq Tareen and senior officers of the Ministry of National Health Services and PIMS.
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