News
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Conflicting court judgements irk drug authorityBy Hasnaat Malik
ISLAMABAD: The Drug Regularity Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) is facing problems in controlling prices of drugs in a uniform manner due to conflicting judgements and observations of lower courts.
As the Supreme Court (SC) is hearing a suo motu case regarding sharp increase in drug prices in the coming week, Deputy Attorney General of Pakistan Sajid Ilyas Bhatti has submitted a miscellaneous petition with a plea to summon all different petitions and civil suits pending in different courts of law for giving a judgement. The government has cautioned that if litigation is not done for early disposal, the public at large would suffer irreparable losses.
It also submitted that Drugs Regularity Agency of Pakistan has been transformed into Drug Regularity Authority of Pakistan after enactment of the Drug Regularity Authority of Pakistan Act 2012 by parliament.
The application stated that DRAP is in a “transitory phase” and facing serious capacity constraints to deal with court cases in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad simultaneously.
It added that it would be in the “interest of justice if all the pending cases relating to drug prices be called upon by the SC to be heard, and avoiding conflicting judgements and delay in disposal of the cases is in the best interest of the poor public of Pakistan”. “The government also requests the SC to decide the question of jurisdiction once for all.”
It also lamented that on the direction of the SC on August 8, 2007, when DRAP had directed M/S Roche Pakistan Limited Karachi to reduce the price of their product namely ‘pegasys’ from Rs13,000 pr vial to Rs 6,500 per vial, the firm had managed to obtain the restraining order from the Sindh High Court on September 13, 2012 and it was selling the product at the same price of Rs 13,000. Likewise, the application revealed that few more manufacturers increased drug prices “exorbitantly” and managed to obtain restraining orders from the Lahore High Court on the pretext that the prices were not notified in the official gazette.
It also stated that drug courts, established under Section 31 of the Drug Act 1976, were a proper forum for hearing cases in respect of drugs.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk