‘Allegations of substandard hepatitis drugs unfounded’

our correspondent
Karachi
Professors at the Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS), after an inquiry, have found allegations of substandard medicines being used for the treatment of hepatitis patients unfounded, a health official told The News on Saturday.
This was stated at a meeting of the Health Department chaired by Chief Secretary Raja Mohammed Abbas at Sindh Secretariat on Friday.
The official said that the Presidency had received complaints of substandard hepatitis-C medicines purchased from China in district Benazirabad (formerly Nawabshah), the home district of the president. These complaints were submitted by the district government of Benazirabad recently.
The President, Asif Ali Zardari, had ordered that the matter should be enquired into thoroughly and action be initiated against the culprits, if any.
Subsequently, Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah had ordered an inquiry to be conducted by professors of the DUHS.
The health department official told The News that three professors collected samples and submitted the final report, stating that the medicines were not substandard.
It was concluded in the enquiry report that “about 10 cases out of 30 files were reviewed, genotype and other necessary investigations were not done in any case according to an important predictor of treatment response”.
The professors noted that the response rate was 80-100pc in other 22 districts and no other centre has reported high failure rate as reported in Benazirabad.
In this regard, the professors’ committee recommended strict selection criteria, complete baseline investigation, genotyping be undertaken before starting treatment of hepatitis.
The Dow professors also stressed the need to educate the patient regarding drug injection technique and doses storage at home and added that compliance and regular follow-up investigation were important factors influencing outcome of the treatment.
The health official said that none had the authority to declare the medicines sub-standard. However, he said that efficacy of medicines might be adversely affected if cold storage facilities did not exist.
The official said that the provincial government had made some endeavours in this regard and proper storage facilities were being provided so that the medicines may not loose their efficacy.