RAWALPINDI: The district health department came into action against spurious drugs on Tuesday and sealed a warehouse where illegally imported stents were stored.

Adviser to Punjab Chief Minister on Health Khawaja Salman Rafique and District Coordination Officer (DCO) Sajid Zafar Dall visited the warehouse in Westridge where the health team recovered imported stents worth Rs30 million.

The health team, accompanied by the local police, failed to arrest the owner of warehouse as he was not in the country.

However, an FIR was lodged against him as dengue mosquitoes were also found on the premises.

The price of an imported stent is Rs90,000 in the market but illegally imported stents are sold for Rs10,000 to Rs30,000.

The Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology, Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology and the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) as well as a number of private hospitals do not purchase stents from the market and acquire them through their own sources.

District Officer Health Dr Mohammad Rafique told Dawn that the team led by Khawaja Salman Rafique inspected the sealed warehouse of In-tech Corporation Limited.

He said the health department was taking action against spurious drugs and the district health team had sealed a number of drugstores and warehouses.

Earlier, Khawaja Salman Rafique told newsmen that the provincial government would not allow anyone to put the lives of people at stake. He said a special drive had been launched in the province against the spurious drugs and the government would soon clear the markets of such drugs.

`The government is also improving the conditions at basic health centres and tehsil headquarters hospital to reduce the load on big hospitals,` he said.

`The Punjab government will introduce good salary packages for the doctors in villages and small towns so that the people are able to get medical facilities at their doorstep,` he said.

He said the chief minister would announce the package for doctors in the coming days, adding the condition of hospitals in the big cities would also be improved.

To prevent corruption in the purchase of equipment, the government has introduced a system of third-party evaluation so that public money is saved.

Mr Rafique also distributed appreciation letters among 500 frontline vaccinators of polio in the district at the Rawalpindi Arts Council Auditorium. Prime Minister`s Focal Person on Polio Eradication Ayesha Raza Farooq and other officials were also present.