Senate censures government's failure in checking drug mafia, rates of medicines

The lawmakers in Senate on Friday flayed the government apathy for leaving the drug mafia scot-free as there are no checks on spurious drugs and exorbitant rates of medicines while fake stents are being injected to heart patients. The MPs belonging to both treasury and opposition benches demanded the government to tighten the noose around Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) as it has failed to take any action against drug mafia, playing havoc with lives of innocent people.
Senator Babar Awan of Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) staged a walkout from the House during question-hour for not being allowed by Deputy Chairman Abdul Ghafoor Haideri to ask question about the failure of DRAP to track down the drug mafia.
"Do the backbenchers have no right to ask questions? I wanted to raise three major health-related issues and you didn't allow me so I'm going to walk out," he said before the walkout, dubbing the chair of running the House like Parliamentary Committee on Kashmir Affairs which is headed by JUI-F Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman.
The JUI-F chief who is heading the important parliamentary panel faces criticism often for, what majority of the lawmakers say, not running the panel quite regularly and effectively, particularly in wake of fresh wave of uprising in Indian Occupied Kashmir in July last year.
Senator Babar Awan was joined by Senators Azam Swati and Samina Abid of PTI and Shahi Syed of Awami National Party (ANP). However, Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Sheikh Aftab Ahmad managed to bring the protesting senators back to the House.
Resuming the floor, Senator Awan said that it seems as if there exists no government; otherwise it should have ensured the protection of life and property of the masses, which is the basic duty of the state, adding the death of over 200 people in Lahore by consuming spurious syrup two years back speaks volume about the writ of the government.
"This is not the end of the story as in 2015, some 300 people died after taking substandard heart medicines and now the report of injecting fake stents in Lahore to a heart patient has surfaced, which is quite shameful, and all this is taking place in government hospitals," he lamented.
The senator said that the government was silent and so were the police and DRAP but the Supreme Court has taken notice of it, adding if DRAP is only for pocketing commission after devolution of health to the provinces, as it is acting as a silent spectator.
"The questions asked by the senator were irrelevant. I think the senator has forgotten the rules," asserted Minister of State Muhammad Balighur Rehman, who was speaking on behalf of the minister for national health services.
Earlier, replying to a volley of questions by Senators Azam Swati, Muhammad Ateeq Sheikh of MQM, Usman Kakar of PkMAP, JUI-F's Muhammad Talha Mehmood, Taj Haider of PPPP and ANP's Shahi Syed, the state minister said that the government attached top priority to health but noted that after the 18th amendment, this subject has been devolved to the provinces and they were primarily responsible for the related matters.
On its part, he said the federal government had established DRAP and the number of federal health inspectors was being increased from 15 to 36. He justified recent increases in prices of certain medicines and said that the government was actively contesting the drug price case in the Supreme Court after the drug firms filed an intra-court appeal.
The minister conceded that the government was pursuing the matter well within its resources while the drug firms have commercial interests and have hired lawyers accordingly.
Senators Talah and Kakar alleged that the government has failed to restrain the drug firms from increasing prices of their products exorbitantly. The minister said that the review in drug prices was overdue, as firms are finding it hard to continue production of medicines. He added the government also forced them to continue producing 'orphan drugs' for the poor segments of the society, which were available at nominal price in the market.
The processing of licenses to 360 new drug firms last year was also criticised by the senators, who wondered who would ensure quality of medicines. Replying to a question by Senator Ahmad Hassan of PPP, Minister for Inter-Provincial Co-ordination Riaz Hussain Pirzada said that overall inflation has made hockey playing unaffordable to the underprivileged players, who despite their capabilities, move away to other sport avenues that offer better financial prospects.
The minister said that for this purpose, Pakistan Hockey Federation has proposed the concept of central contracts for players and job opportunities to the deserving players in government and private sector.