SAPM Zafar Mirza takes notice of life-saving drugs' shortage

ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on National Health Services, Dr Zafar Mirza on Monday took notice of life-saving drugs’ shortage in the market and directed Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) to ensure availability of the medicines, ARY NEWS reported.

The adviser to the prime minister said that he had received reports of life-saving drugs shortage in the market and took a prompt action to overcome any such situation.

“I have directed DRAP task force comprising of authorities’ members and medicine industry representatives to look into the matter and submit a detailed report into it,” he said.

Mirza said that the DRAP has assured him that steps were taken to ensure availability of 20 key life-saving drugs in the market.

On January 01, Dr Zafar Mirza has announced the healthcare targets of 2020 set by Pakistan including polio eradication, disposal syringes and issuance of health insurance cards, ARY News reported on Wednesday.

Dr Zafar Mirza, in his statement to the media, said the country was facing a decline in social sectors due to economic deficit in 2019 while the federal government had paid complete attention to its healthcare vision.

The special assistant said the government had not only issued health insurance [Sehat Insaf] cards but also expanded its scope to other parts of the country by providing it to all needy families till December 2019.

The next target is to provide the facility to half of the overall population of Pakistan by December 2020, he added.

Commenting over poliovirus, Mirza detailed that cases had been reduced to 8 in 2017 but it was increased at the beginning of 2018 while 19 new cases were reported in 2019 including the majority of affected children from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province.

He further said the health ministry had reached 400 million children for anti-polio vaccination. Mirza expressed hopes for achieving targets in December 2020 for polio-free Pakistan. He vowed the authorities will eradicate disposal syringe till June 2020 by introducing auto-disable syringes which cannot be reused.