ISLAMABAD: Four days after withdrawing a ban on the export of all anti-malaria drugs, the ministry of commerce has again imposed the ban on the medicines to stockpile them in case of their possible use to treat Covid-19 patients.

The ban that has been imposed with immediate effect will remain in place until further decision of the National Coordination Comm­ittee (NCC) on Covid-19, according to SRO297 of 2020 issued here by commerce ministry on Friday.

The demand for export of anti-malaria drugs especially hydroxychloroquine gained importance after US President Donald Trump claimed that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had app­roved the use of “very powerful” drug Chloroquine to treat Covid-19.

For almost a week, there was confusion between the commerce division and the national health ministry about who was authorised to move a summary for allowing the export of or impose a ban on the anti-malaria medicines.

Commerce ministry issues new notification days after withdrawing the ban

The commerce division had earlier termed a letter of Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Drap) seeking ban on exports of masks inappropriate.

According to an official source, the commerce division in the wake of the NCC meeting issued an order on April 3 banning the export of all anti-malaria drugs with immediate effect. “We have issued the order to implement the decision quickly,” the official said, adding it was decided that post-facto approval would be sought from the cabinet.

However, that order did not go down well with the national health ministry.

To resolve the issue, it was agreed that national health ministry would submit a summary to the federal cabinet for getting approval of imposing ban on export of all anti-malaria drugs.

The cabinet in its meeting on April 6 approved the ban, the source said. Interestingly, the commerce ministry on April 6 issued another order to withdraw its April 3 order regarding the imposition of ban on the export of all anti-malarial drugs.

To implement the cabinet meeting decision, the commerce ministry issued a new notification for imposing the ban on the medicine export, which was dated April 9. However, the notification was released to the media on Friday.

There are approximately 20 companies, which are manufacturing anti-malaria drugs.

At the same time to restrict use of anti-malaria drugs in domestic market, Drap has already asked medical stores to sell the drugs on doctors’ prescriptions only.

As per Drap record, there are around 25 million tablets and around 9,000 kilograms of raw material available in the market to produce drugs. The authority believes that the country has sufficient stock to meet any emergency.

According to an official statement of Drap, the Central Licensing Board of Drap has approved local manufacturing of Chloroquine Phosphate-Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API). Now Chloroquine API can be manufactured indigenously to meet the requirement of those pharmaceutical companies that prepare Chloroquine phosphate tablets, injections and syrups, it adds.

Tax exemption

Meanwhile, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) exempted funds meant for Prime Minister’s Covid-19 Pandemic Relief Fund-2020.

According to an income tax notification SRO300 of 2020 issued on Friday, all such funds will be exempted from income tax at any stage. No tax will be charged on transfer of such funds, cash withdrawal from banks, and banking transactions other than cash.

Published in Dawn, April 11th, 2020