Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) is introducing five modern mobile laboratories to check the quality of medicines across the province.
Lieutenant General (retd) Nigar Johar said on Friday that the mobile laboratories will be launched next Tuesday at the Governor House.
She added that this is the first time in the province’s history that medicines will be tested on the spot.
What are these mobile laboratories?
The vans will have modern FTIR and Raman technology. These tools will help check the chemical contents and strength of medicines quickly.
The mobile laboratories will be sent to different divisions of the province. Drug inspectors will use them to check medicines directly in markets.
What will happen in case suspicious medicines are found?
If any medicine is found to be suspicious, its samples will be sent to the Drug Testing Laboratory in Peshawar for further tests.
Johar said providing safe and quality medicines to the public is important for protecting public health.
She added that the new mobile laboratories will help improve the drug control system in the province.
How can you check if a medicine is fake?
Recently, Federal Health Minister Mustafa Kamal announced that citizens will soon be able to check whether a medicine is genuine or fake through a mobile app. The process will take only a few minutes.
According to details, a meeting was held under the chairmanship of Mustafa Kamal to review the trial of a two-dimensional (2D) barcode system for medicines.
The meeting was attended by the chief executive officer of the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) and the chief executive officer of the National Information Technology Board (NITB).
What are the public complaint boxes in KP DCs’ offices?
Separately, the KP government has directed all Deputy Commissioners (DCs) across the province to install public complaint boxes in their offices within two days.
The step is being taken to provide citizens with an accessible system for reporting human rights violations and filing complaints against district attorneys.
The directive was issued by the provincial Law Department on the instructions of Adviser on Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Human Rights, Aamir Javed.
