LAHORE: Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has pledged to eliminate the ugly business of fake and substandard medicines.
Chairing a meeting held here on Sunday to review the steps taken to improve healthcare facilities in the province, he ordered crackdown on factories involved in the preparation of bogus and substandard medicines and to take action against those involved in this heinous crime. He also approved cash rewards for those who would give infor-mation about the businesses involved. A sum of Rs1 million will be offered to such an informer.
He said a modern system of purchase, supply and distribution of medicines had been introduced to end sale of counterfeit and substandard medicines. He said samples of medicines were being sent to world`s renowned laboratories for examination and Punjab would be made 100pc free province from spurious and substandard medicines.
He said it was responsibility of the government to provide cheap and quality medicines to the people.
Provision of cheap and quality medicines could be possible by importing generic drugs, he said and sought a plan for the purpose. He regretted that billions of rupees had been spent to purchase state-of-the-art machinery which was still lying packed in hospitals with no use for patients.
He warned that if themachinery purchased for the provision of facilities to the masses was of no benefit for them then strict action should be taken against those responsible for it.
SAAD: Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique said on Sunday peace in Karachi was not restored by PPP President Asif Ali Zardari but the PML-N whose 22 candidates were elected as nazims in the city.
Speaking at a public meeting in his constituency here, Mr Rafique said the PML-N government had uprooted the culture of sending `extortion chits` that ranged from Rs500 to Rs50m. He said the PML-N government had earned the ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and brought people back from mountains in Balochistan.
In Punjab, he said, chief minister Shahbaz Sharif had turned around the f ate of Lahorites and those living in other districts.
