PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Department has seized 27,000 cottons of Panadol tablets from a warehouse on Charsadda road on Monday.
Deputy Secretary Drugs Ibrahim Khan said that distributors used to supply the stocks in black to wholesale dealers instead of retailers which has created shortage in the market. Khan added that due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the use of Panadol and its prices have increased in the province.
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According to Deputy Secretary Drugs, a few days ago, it was reported that anti-coronavirus drugs had disappeared from the market. He added that the Drug Control and Pharmacy Services of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Department, acting on the instructions of Health Minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra, recovered 27,000 cottons worth Rs50 million from a warehouse on Charsadda Road. He said that Health Minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra and Health Secretary Tahir Khan issued directions to investigate the matter.
According to Ibrahim Khan, drug data was taken from all distributors, after which senior drug inspector Mehtab Afsar along with his team started checking the distribution depot. The data provided by the drug inspectors to the distributors of the relevant brand was found to contain much more stock in the warehouse. “Distributors used to supply stocks in black to wholesale dealers instead of retailers who would sell at higher prices in the market, which led to artificial shortages in the market and a means of raising money,” Deputy Secretary Drugs Ibrahim Khan told the media.
Khan further added that there were complaints of increase in price and unavailability of penadol. He said that that they are further investigating the matter and they hope that more drugs would be recovered in next few days.
The health department said that strict action will be taken against those responsible under the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Drug Act.