The country's frontier seems to be very porous as far as the entry of drugs banned by the Drug Administration (DA) for reasons of safety of people's health is concerned. Officials manning the sea, land and air ports are, allegedly, not alert enough to stop the entry of banned drugs. The DA has reportedly written recently to the National Board of Revenue (NBR), expressing its grave concern over the unabated entry of banned drugs and other medical devices into the country. Because of their near unhindered entry, a good number of banned drugs are easily available at Mitford drug stores. What is most intriguing is that physicians working even at reputed hospitals in some cases prescribe those drugs.
The customs and DA at the time of, at least, two joint drives last year, seized consignments of banned drugs imported from Egypt and Turkey through false declaration. But what is reportedly more worrying for the DA is that a substantial volume of drugs and other medical devices is entering the country due to the negligence, deliberate or otherwise, on the part of the customs officials. Such allegations cannot be dismissed outright since there are reports on the smuggling of banned items, including the luxury ones, through false declaration, galore. However, the banned drugs get into the country, using other means, too. A section of air passengers smuggle the banned drugs albeit in small quantities into the country concealing the same in their luggage. In the absence of proper check, international courier services are furthermore used to bringing in banned drugs.
However, the smuggling of the banned drugs does raise a few pertinent questions about the prescription of medicines that the authorities have found unsafe and, at the same time, about the logic behind banning those drugs that, according to doctors, have either curative or preventive properties. The DA should raise the issue at an appropriate forum participated by all stakeholders, and try to find answers to the above-mentioned questions. The patients do not take drugs barring the over- the- counter (OTC) ones prescribed by registered doctors. So, the smuggling of banned medicines would continue as long as there is demand for them in the market. However, the DA and the NBR should ensure close coordination, particularly at the entry points to check smuggling of harmful banned drugs. The proposal of DA to ensure the presence of its officials at the stage of releasing the imported consignments of drugs and medicines deserves due consideration.
It would not be, however, out of place to mention the failure of the DA itself to stop production and marketing of spurious drugs and medicines by a section of local unscrupulous pharmaceutical companies. The physical safety of millions of people, particularly the poorer section of them, is at stake because of the availability of spurious and sub-standard drugs in the market. On January 28 last, the High Court Division sought explanation from the government as to why necessary measures had not been taken to stop adulteration of medicines. The court also asked why directive should not be issued for taking steps to fix the price of medicines. The issue is giving much trouble to the common people these days. The DA has logistic and human resource constraints, no doubt. But there prevails an impression that on its part it has not been doing enough to resolve the problems facing the health sector.
The issue of banned drugs
FE Team | Published: February 03, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
Share if you like