LAHORE : Sept 26 : The Punjab police have arrested Hafiz Bilal Rahid , a compounder of Saira Memorial Hospital Lahore and their efforts are underway to nab Navid ,another employee and compounder of the same hospital for illegally dispensing Avastin injection and supply of dispensed injections in different cities of the Punjab . These two compounders of Saira Memorial Hospital Lahore were doing dispensing of Roche company’s Avastin injections for years at the hospital without any license . This dirty practise finally has resulted in backlash to put vision of thousands of diabetic patients at danger .
Pakistan Pharmacists Association chief , Noor Mahar , who is an independent voice on sensitive issues like dispensing of drugs , calls action of Saira Memorial Hospital of dispensing Avastin injection of Roche company as highly alarming and demands action against its all characters including the suppliers of this unlawfully suspended injection and the doctors who prescribed it to the diabetic patients. He said Avastin injection is for cancer treatment and not for diabetic disease . He added that dispensing of injections like Avastin injection is a crime and its responsibles should be fixed .
Noor Mahar added that Shaukat Khanum Hospital was unnecessarily dragged into the controversy . He maintained that Shaukat Khanum Hospital has world class labs and standards that allow it to go for dispensation of any drug for treatment of the cancer patients .
The Drug Regulatory Authority (DRAP) and Punjab Primary Health Care Department team had conducted joint raids at Saira Memorial Hospital Lahore the other day and took samples of dispensed Avastin injections whose use has allegedly affected vision of a large number of the diabetic patients in the province. The joint raiding team took the sample of Avastin injection from Saira Memorial Hospital Lahore to reach to the bottom of the issue . The samples collected from Saira Memorial Hospital Lahore, which has a central stage of the Avastin injection scam referred to the Punjab Testing Lab for its report.
The Punjab government will decide line of action on the basis of the report of Testing Laboratory . Meanwhile , the number of affected patients of Avastin injection in Punjab has gone up in thousands. The Punjab government is downplaying the size of the crisis. A scandal of fake Austin injection has cost visions to thousands of the people in the Punjab and the real crisis may be much bigger than reported by the concerned authorise of Punjab Health Care Department as still actual number of affected patients is still unknown. According to an initial report of the Punjab Health Care Department presented to caretaker chief minister , Mohsin Naqvi, a Lahore based unregistered and illegal drug manufacturer was involved in preparing a fake injection–Austin — for eye disease for years and it used product name of a multinational — Roche company . for his illegal activity.