The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Department has seized 27,000 cottons of Panadol tablets from warehouses on Charsadda road on Monday. Deputy Secretary Drugs Ibrahim Khan said that distributors used to supply the stocks in black to wholesale dealers instead of retailers which created shortage in the market. He said due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the use of Panadol and its prices have increased in the province.
According to the Deputy Secretary Drugs, a few days ago, it was reported that anti-coronavirus drugs had disappeared from the market. The Drug Control and Pharmacy Services of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Department, acting on the instructions of Health Minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra, recovered 27,000 cottons worth Rs 50 million from a warehouse on Charsadda Road.
He said that Health Minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra and Health Secretary Tahir Khan have issued directions to investigate the matter. According to Ibrahim Khan, drug data was taken from all distributors, after which senior drug inspector Mehtab Afsar along with his team started checking the distribution depot. The data provided by the drug inspectors to the distributors of the relevant brand was found to contain much more stock in the warehouse. “Distributors used to supply stocks in black to wholesale dealers instead of retailers who would sell at higher prices in the market, which led to artificial shortages in the market and a means of raising money,” Deputy Secretary Drugs Ibrahim Khan told the media.
Khan further added that there were complaints of increase in price and unavailability of Panadol. He said that they were further investigating the matter and hoped that more drugs would be recovered in the next few days. The health department said that strict action will be taken against those responsible under the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Drug Act.
