ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has written a letter to the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Drap) seeking an explanation by August 9 about a number of complaints against the authority.

Drap Chief Executive Officer Dr Mohammad Aslam said the letter had been forwarded to the concerned department and that all the documents would be provided to the agency well on time.

According to the letter (copy available with Dawn), the FIA asked Drap to provide the record of all imported medicines registered during the last two years.

Moreover, it was also directed to provide a list of Drap officials who visited drug manufacturing factories abroad.

The authority has been asked to provide the detail of the amount spent on the visit of the officers.

An official of the Ministry of National Health Services (NHS), requesting not to be quoted, said whenever a company wanted to get an imported medicine registered it arranged the travel of Drap officials in business class and their stay in five-star hotels abroad.

“The FIA has rightly asked about the details whether the amount is spent by the ministry/Drap or not because otherwise officials travelling at the expense of the company cannot refuse to register its medicine,” he said.

The FIA has also asked Drap to provide the certified copy of a notification issued by it through which provinces were directed to buy hepatitis medicines of only one company. It also sought the copy of section 23 and 27 of Drap Act which deals with the nature of crime and their punishment.

Moreover, a certified copy of the personal file of a drug inspector was also sought along with the copy of Section 18 (2) of Drug Act which deals with the conflict of interest cases.

The official said: “It has been learnt that the father of the drug inspector is the general manager in a private hospital in which the sale/purchase of medicines is going on.”

He said according to Drap rules it was the perfect example of a conflict of interest and such an official cannot be appointed in Drap.

However, Drap CEO Dr Mohammad Aslam told Dawn that the allegations were baseless, adding twisted information had been provided to the FIA.

“Though I have asked for a report from the concerned department it is a fact that for the last two decades there has been the same criterion for the inspection of factories in other countries. In case of the US Food and Drug Administration, medicines are registered without the inspection of a factory. We also follow the list of medicines recommended by the World Health Organisation. However, inspections are held for other factories and a number of medicines are rejected,” he said.

“It does not create a conflict of interest if the relative of a Drap official works in a hospital. In fact, some elements are against the official and they have been complaining against him,” he said.

In reply to a question about the hepatitis medicine, Dr Aslam said the company’s medicine was not registered at that time and the information provided to the FIA was incorrect.

“The complaint lodged with the FIA seems motivated and a part of the negative campaign against Drap. This is based on misconceived information by a group involved in illegal manufacturing of unregistered drugs as a pressure tactic so that legal action and cases against it can be stopped,” Dr Aslam said.

Published in Dawn, August 6th, 2017