The secretary to the Governor of the Punjab has issued notification by the order of the governor of the Punjab, printed in the Punjab weekly gazette dated February 10, 2010, page No. 951. In exercise of power conferred upon him under Section 44 of the Drug Act. 1976 (XXXI of 1976) which empower government to make rules under Act subjected to previous publication. The governor of the Punjab has made amendments in the Punjab Drug Rules, 2007 after previous publication of these amendments. In rule 1, sub rule (3) for the word “three” is substituted by the word “ten”. Thus the drug rule enforced in 2007 and supposed to be fully implemented in July, 2010 is now enforced in 2020.
These amendments are condemned by the executives of Pharmacist Federation of Pakistan; Dr. Taha Nazir – Secretary General, Dr. Tahir Farooq – Press Secretary, Khursheed Alam– President Rawalpindi, Syed Muzzamil Masood Zaidi – President Islamabad and Mr. Asad Imran – President Lahore. They said that it is dishonesty with nation to allow the nonprofessional and non-technical people to handle the precious live of innocent patients. The drug rules 2007 were prepared and enforce with spirit of to benefit the community. Thus; it is unrealistic approach of governor house to issue such biased notification. It is a kind of joke with pharmacist community, profession and institutions. They have strongly emphasized the government of the Punjab to withdraw this notification and make sure the implementation of fair, international recognized and healthy drug rule 2007.