A complete lack of regulation is allowing this morally reprehensible business to flourish By Shahab Omer
W
ithin the world of fraudulent businesses, what one fraudulent business comes to mind that is the most morally reprehensible yet commonplace? A business practice that makes a lot of money and does unspeakable damage that can scarcely be made sense of. This categorisation is not limited to one or even just a few businesses, but one business that does fall under this description is that of selling counterfeit drugs. Preying on the sick and helpless, making them pay exorbitant amounts of money only to give them fake or subpar medicine, is truly a low one would hope to never witness. Unfortunately, Pakistan is a country where substandard and counterfeit drugs are sold openly and no one is going to lay a finger on a single hair of the mafia behind the buying and selling of these fake drugs. According to a survey conducted by Profit, more than 40 percent of medicines sold in Pakistani markets are either counterfeit or substandard. Similarly, 4,000 pharmaceutical companies are registered in the country, while more than 100,000 companies are making and selling drugs without anyone asking. There is not a single government civil or military hospital in the whole country where the ruling classes or government bureaucrats like to get their treatment. And the problems are not just limited to substandard drugs being sold - even actual drugs can be misused and brought out on the
MEDICINE
streets. Such as 2012, when the heart medicine ephedrine was misused, and an investigation into whether two drug manufacturing companies in Pakistan turned ephedrine allocations into street drugs garnered international attention. In either kind of case, the issues is that regulation of drugs in Pakistan is abysmal. People fall prey to new diseases due to faulty and counterfeit medicines every day. Everybody knows and recognizes the traders involved in counterfeit medicines in the markets here, but people turn to the same medical stores for medicines. But the real question is, who allows this and how does it go unattended for so long?
How do substandard drugs reach the markets?
T
here is a wholesale market for medicines near Shah Alam Market in Lahore and all kinds of medicines are available here even if they are banned at the government level. Naeem Abbas, a wholesaler in the market, informed Profit that there are four categories of drugs available in the market. The first category includes drugs that are of good brands and quality, and the second category is drugs made by unknown brands and companies and the majority of them are substandard drugs. The third category is that of drugs that are completely counterfeit and the fourth is the banned drugs. “Now if you ask how substandard and counterfeit drugs come into the market, believe me it is a very easy task in our system because
there is no one to ask. A pharmaceutical company is one that is registered and a pharmaceutical company is one that is not registered at all. It is no longer necessary for the registered company to supply medicines in the market to be standard quality because substandard drugs of many registered companies are also sold openly in the market,” he said. “If we talk about quality medicines, the quality medical stores are also available there like Fazal Din Pharmacy, Mahmood Pharmacy, Clinics, Servaid, etc. These stores do not have substandard medicines and people trust such medical stores. Now here comes the sale of substandard medicine and the first difference between substandard medicine and standard medicine is quality and the second big difference is price. The medicine that is being sold at a lower price in the market is not necessarily substandard. These substandard medicines do use the salt of the desired medicine, but the results are not very good. But even then, these drugs work to some extent. Third, counterfeit drugs which are very dangerous and their use can lead to many new diseases.” Abbas revealed that not only in Lahore but all over the country, many counterfeit medicines with similar names of Novidat, Risek, Skilax, Voltral, Cefiget and many others are easily available in the market. “Now consider that Novidat is an antibiotic medicine and is used by a patient who is trying to get rid of an infection. Now a similar name Novaedaxin is easily found in the market and it is a counterfeit medicine. Interestingly, the manufacturer of the counterfeit medicine has not only prepared the packaging of his medicine like the real Novidat but has also put a price of RS
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