With the devolution of drugs and medicines from the federation to provinces under the 18th Amendment, worries of Pakistan’s pharmaceutical sector are increasing and this sector fears colossal losses, closure of business and sharp decline in exports.

The industry, which had registered a growth of 37 percent in exports touching $200 billion during 2009-10, was likely to be ruined, said pharmaceuticals owners and representatives of Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PPMA) in a seminar on Monday at a local hotel organised by the Association of Health Journalists in collaboration with the National Forum for Environment and Health.

Theme of the seminar was ‘Devolution of Health Sector and its Impacts on Pharmaceutical Industry’. National Assembly’s (NA) Standing Committee on Health Chairman Dr Nadeem Ehsaan was the chief guest on the occasion. PPMA Chairman Haroon Qasim said that the industry might face losses worth billions of rupees due to prevailing uncertainty between the small and large drug manufacturers due to devolution of powers. The imports and exports would be affected while local and foreign investors would shy away from this sector due to ambiguity, he added.

He was of the view that drug manufacturers were concerned about the development that the drug and medicine sector, which was the part of the concurrent list, had become provincial subjects and provinces were asked to establish infrastructure for drug registration. The centre took 40 years to develop drug testing and registration mechanism, but it was not possible to create a similar system in the provinces within a year, they feared. Like drug registration, licensing of new companies, renewal of the contracts, imports and exports of raw material and furnished goods and fixation of drug prices would also be affected during the establishment of the new set up, he added.

He said that according to the Planning Commission, pharma was the third largest industry and one of the most competitive industries in the country, exporting drugs and medicines to over 60 countries. This industry, which is providing direct and indirect employment to nearly four million people also fulfils over 90 percent of the country’s drug requirements, saving enormous foreign exchange, as only less than 10 percent of the medicines need to be imported, he explained.

A prominent lawyer Barrister Ali Zafar delivering a presentation, said that questions are raised that who will provide, govern and regulate licences for the import and export of drugs, the Centre or the Province? Similarly, there shall be no uniform quality control method, if provinces are to govern and regulate drugs and medicines, thereby creating great hurdles for the people as one drug may be declared safe in one province and may be banned in another. If provinces are to govern and regulate procedures for registration this shall have a devastating impact as a drug under the name ‘X’ may be registered in Sindh for pain relief, and a drug with the same name ‘X’ can be registered in Punjab as medication for cholesterol control. This bafflement could cause serious health hazards which would directly contribute to the rise in morbidity and mortality as two drugs, having two totally different medicinal properties, would be available in the same province under the same name but registered in different provinces, he opined. He suggested that a Drug Regularity Authority (DRA) should be formed and assigned all above mentioned tasks and the 19th Amendment of the Constitution could also be done to provide for the inclusion of ‘drugs and medicines’ in the Federal Legislative List or add drugs and medicines in Article 142 (b) of the Constitution.

Senator Abdul Haseeb Khan said endorsing the formation of DRA was the answer to the woes of pharmaceutical sector. MNA Dr Donia Aziz also endorsed the suggestion of DRA and said that there should be a uniform and national strategy and laws to address such issues. Giving examples, she referred to the Sindh Health Department, which has passed a bill for mandatory use of auto destructive syringes and suggested that this bill should be replicated in other provinces as well.