Shamail Kh Visits Drug Testing Laboratory

Umer Jamshaid Published January 03, 2017 | 05:40 PM

LAHORE, Jan 3 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 03rd Jan, 2017 ) : Additional Chief Secretary Punjab Shamail Ahmad Khwaja on Tuesday said that the Punjab government would take all measures to ensure manufacturing of quality medicines in the province, as it was essential to save people from spurious and substandard drugs.

During his visit to Drug Testing Laboratory (DTL) here, he emphasised the need to focus on 'over-the-counter' sale of medicines at thousands of medical stores in every nook and cranny of the province, as people mostly purchase medicines for themselves from these medical stores.

Director DTL Munawar Hayat briefed the visiting official about the modern facilities available at the Laboratory, to transform it into a model drug testing laboratory along with the shortcomings which could be met with the collaboration of the Punjab government.

The official visited all six functional laboratories at DTL which include pure active pharmaceutical ingredients testing lab, hi-tech lab having the most modern facility of HPLC chromatography and witnessed the analytic process of medicines from bar coding to the submission of final results.

The delegation was informed that 9,089 drug samples have been received in DTL from various public sector hospitals pharmacies during the current Calendar year, out of which only 301 samples were rejected on account of being out of specification.

Additional Chief Secretary suggested that the facilities for accurate testing of biological drugs like interferon, insulin, monoclonal anti-bodies, gamma globulins and other vaccines should also be provided in DTL Lahore.

He also visited the newly established "Health Information & Services Delivery Unit" where the Project Director Ms Kalsoom Saqib gave him detailed briefing about the performance of his new unit comprising of Prescription Management Information System, Medicine Inventory & Equipment Control System and Database of ADP Schemes of Primary & Secondary Healthcare.

He was accompanied by other senior officials.