KARACHI, Jan 30: The Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) has endorsed the observations made by members of the Sindh Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee in a hearing on Thursday alleging that massive irregularities and misappropriation of funds have been committed in the provincial health department.

The central general secretary of the PMA, Dr Habibur Rehman Soomro, in a statement issued on Friday, said: “The PAC report and observations regarding bungling and embezzlement of funds and other irregularities in the provincial health department are totally correct and the PMA has been raising its voice against corruption in the health department for a long time.”

“You can visit Katchi Galli [a wholesale medicine market near M.A. Jinnah Road] and can easily purchase a packet of paracetamol for Rs210, while the health department is purchasing the same packet for Rs410,” Dr Soomro said.

“Corruption in official medicine procurement starts from the tender process,” he claimed.

He wondered why prices of medicines were quoted at 200 times more than their actual price in tenders.

“Some pharmaceutical companies have established their factories in 120-sq-yard houses in Liaquatabad, Orangi and in areas of Hyderabad and have got approval for their medicines from the health ministry in Islamabad and these substandard medicines are being supplied to government hospitals,” he said.

“There is a remarkable difference between prices of the same medicine manufactured by different pharmaceutical companies: one company is providing the medicine at Rs2 per tablet while other at 40 paisas,” he said.

He said that the PMA had proposed the sale of medicines with their generic names in order to end what he described as looting by pharmaceutical firms.

“Sale of medicines with generic names would not only result in saving millions of rupees in official procurement of medicines, but would also help poverty stricken people who cannot afford to pay the high prices of medicine.

“In the last government, a director-general in the ministry of health was an owner of a substandard pharmaceutical factory and medicines of his firm and other substandard companies were supplied to government hospitals in bulk under a secret deal with the bureaucracy,” he alleged.

He claimed that a former health minister in Sindh had asked pharmaceutical companies and medicine suppliers and contractors to deal with him directly regarding medicine procurement of hospitals.—PPI