PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chamber of Commerce and Industry senior vicepresident Mohammad Iqbal has demanded immediate withdrawal of the amendments made to the Drug Rules 1982.

In a statement issued here on Sunday, he demanded of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak to constitute a high-level committee to resolve the issue and foil the attempts to weaken relationship of chemist and druggist association with the provincial government. Mr Iqbal accused the pharmacist association of creating problems for the chemists and druggists by supporting the amendments in the drug rules, saying that the business community was not ready to accept the changes in the rules.

He suggested that government should form a committee wherein the representatives of pharmacist and chemist and drug associations would also plead their cases, saying that all the decisions should be taken on merit and based on good intentions.

The chamber leader alleged that the pharmacist association and chemists and druggist association were two separate groups and none of them should try to misguide the provincial government by changing the rules without taking on board the relevant stakeholders.

`We appeal to the provincial government to take this issue seriously and accommodate suggestions of the SCCI in order to resolve the matter on permanent basis,` the chamber leader said. -Bureau Report