Conspiracies against local pharma industry to be foiled: Senator Ghulam Ali

Lahore: Chairman Senate Standing Committee on Commerce Haji Ghulam Ali on Friday said Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) has become hub of conspiracies against local pharmaceutical industry.

He said that only few sectors are operating in profit in the current gloomy situation in which include the local pharma sector with over 550 industrial units and sizeable exports which must be protected.

Senator Haji Ghulam Ali who has also served as President FPCCI said this while talking to former VP FPCCI Mirza Abdul Rehman who was leading a delegation of owners of various pharma units.

He said that DRAP is full of incompetent people and without a CEO since two years, adding that the dysfunctional institution is not serving the interests of masses and the pharma industry.

Interviews for the CEO of DRAP were conducted on Dec 24 but no one was appointed from the health department rather names of two persons representing influential multinationals have been forwarded for the approval which is not acceptable, he added.

Haji Ghulam Ali said that appointment of any CEO other than the official of Health Department will play havoc with the pharma industry as they would serve the multinationals only.

At the occasion, Mirza Abdul Rehman who has also served as Chairman FPCCI Standing Committee on Pharmaceuticals said that eighty owners of local pharmaceuticals assembled in the RCCI few days back and vowed to resist appointment of CEO DRAP from the private sector.

Expressing serious reservations they decided to inform Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif about their doubts and decided to resist any move to induct anyone from private sector in DRAP. They said that they would try to get the decision reversed or invoke courts of law to safeguard their rights.