The black market of medicines in Peshawar
Editorial
Although, Namak Mandi bazaar of Peshawar city is internationally famous for mutton tikka, however, it is also known as the black market of medicines in the provincial metropolis – where apart from the huge business of spurious and poor quality medicines, life-saving and other important drugs are also sold illegally – raising serious questions on the performance of the authorities concerned.
In fact, Namak Mandi is the largest market of low-grade and inferior quality medicines throughout the province, where 80-90 percent business is completely unauthorized, unchecked, and illegal, while there are no proper arrangements for refrigeration, air-conditioning, and temperature and humidity control in the shops/setups to store medicines in a standard condition, resulting in negatively affecting the efficacy and life span of drugs while using such items can put the precious human lives at great risk.
Similarly, as a clinic cannot run without a physician, so how a pharmacy or a pharmaceutical distribution setup can be run without a pharmacist? However, in Namak Mandi medicine market, around 90 percent of the pharmacy retail shops and wholesale/distribution businesses are being operated without pharmacists ‘in person’, and under-matric, non-qualified, and even uneducated persons perform all the duties over there which is an alarming point for public health.
It is to be mentioned that the PTI-led KP government amended the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Drugs Rules, 1982 in 2017 on the demand of pharmacist community to address the issue of substandard, poor-quality, and spurious drugs in the province, however, after political pressure and protests by the so-called chemists and druggists, the amended drugs rules could not be implemented and now the situation has become very disastrous.
Therefore, it is high time to make the cycle of manufacturing, supplying and retailing of all medicines more and more transparent, reliable, and documented as per the guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO). As the distribution of medicines is a highly sensitive process, that is why pharmaceutical companies should be made bound to provide their products only to authorized and genuine wholesalers/distributors – who have valid license holder pharmacists and meet the other requirements.
To address this burning issue, the provincial government, particularly the health department, must implement the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Drugs Rules, 2017 in letter and spirit to regulate and modernize the business of medicines as per international standards and eradicate the evil trade of low-standard and spurious medicines from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
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Keep it up dear. Exellent
Excellent keep it up sir you have written on very crucial and important topics i-e that is low quality drug and misuse of such low poor quality medicine sold and kept without pharmacists in namakmandi medicine markets. The government machinery drug inspectors are also involved in such malpractice and corruption. Govt should take immediate action to control low quality medicine and infiltration and to appointment pharmacists by drug stores distributors and pharmacies. Even doctors are not allowed to prescribe medicine because this is job of pharmacists and doctors are only allowed to diagnose the patients.