ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of National Health Services (NHS) has directed pharmaceutical companies to print barcodes on the packaging of all local and imported drugs within one month.

The companies are bound to implement the directives issued for all pharmaceutical and biological drugs for human use by April 20.

The decision was made during the 51st meeting of the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Drap) Policy Board held in Islamabad on Wednesday.

The meeting, chaired by the federal health secretary, was attended by the board members, Drap CEO Dr Asim Rauf and the authority’s divisional directors.

QR codes will allow citizens to scan, verify prices and authenticity of medicines via smartphones

A statement issued by the health ministry stated that the step had been taken to ensure the “provision of quality medicines and eradication of spurious/falsified drugs”.

“The board also directed Drap to closely monitor the compliance and take all the measures including legal actions to ensure the compliance.”

This initiative “aligns with global practices and standards” and emphasises the importance of supply chain management in the pharmaceutical industry.

The statement added that the authority was committed to ensuring the safety and quality of drugs in Pakistan and protecting the public from falsified products. The barcodes will work as a global identification code system, allowing citizens to verify medicines and their prices by scanning the barcode from their smartphones.

It will enable pharmaceutical companies to track the movement of drugs and recall them in case of any complaint.

The system has been in the works for almost a decade now. The NHS ministry and Drap started working to introduce barcodes in 2015 and claimed that it would eradicate the sale of spurious drugs and curb overpricing.

Two years later, in March 2017, the ministry announced that the project was included in the agenda of the federal cabinet meeting for approval.

QR codes

While talking about the system, a health ministry official said that it will be the same as departmental stores where the prices of products are checked through single-dimensional or 1D barcodes.

The pharmaceutical companies will have to use two-dimensional barcodes — 2D barcodes, commonly known as QR codes — on the drug’s packaging, said the official, who wished not to be quoted.

Consumers will be able to scan the 2D barcodes on their to get information about the product’s name, its maker, batch number, expiry date and the price.

The process will “identify the barcode” of a spurious medicine.

“Citizens who do not possess smartphones can request the medical store owner or any other person to help them verify the medicine,” he said.

“Moreover, sometimes [there are] complaints such as mixing of an unwanted chemical in a drug or a fungus. It will become easy for the company concerned to track the movement of the medicine and recall it,” the official said.

The barcodes will also help government hospitals, who purchase drugs in bulk, to keep a check on the expiry and availability of medicines, the official told Dawn.

“Because of the barcode, the sale of spurious drugs will be eradicated,” the official said, adding the Pakistan

Phar­maceutical Manufacturers Asso­ciation, Pharma Bureau and other stakeholders were taken on board to design the new system.

“They were willing to introduce the barcode as it was in their own interest.”

In reply to a question, the official said initially, there was a proposal to use the scratchable barcodes. However, the idea was dropped because it was costly.

Published in Dawn, March 22nd, 2024