ISLAMABAD, Oct 2: The Supreme Court on Monday extended the deadline for another two months to allow the health ministry to check the production and sale of spurious drugs in the country.

In a suo motu notice, a two-member bench again directed the federal health secretary, Syed Anwar Mehmood, to convene a meeting of the provincial health secretaries and ensure implementation of the existing drug laws.

The bench comprised Chief Justice of Pakistan Mr. Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and Justice Muhammad Nawaz Abbasi. The court was hearing a complaint of Dr Shamsuz Zaman Soomro about production of Ceftriaxone Sodium. Mr Soomro told the court that he had bought batch number 130 of the product for Rs70 against its original price of Rs495.

Later, a quality control report clarified that it was not spurious but a misbranded product. The health ministry also issued a show cause notice to the two pharmaceutical companies producing the drug. The bench also directed prompt submission of challan against the two pharmaceutical companies.

Controller of Drugs Dr Farnaz Malik told the court that Sihala police station had registered a case in this regard but did not present the challan to the court.

The chief justice expressed displeasure at police performance for making undue delay in the submission of challans and directed the district police officer (DPO) concerned to submit the challan to the drug court within three days.

The court also directed the health secretary to ensure presence of a licensed pharmacist at every drug store as required by the law. The health secretary told the bench that a bill to regulate Unani Ayurvedic medicines was also being discussed by a parliamentary committee.

Director-General Health Shahida Malik told the court that a draft law on establishment of a drug regulatory authority had been sent to parliament for approval. The draft law suggests measures to check production and sale of spurious and misbranded drugs and prescribe stringent punishments for violators.