RAWALPINDI, Oct 12 (DNA): The Special Assistant on Health Dr Zafar Mirza on Saturday announced that long-awaited National Medicine Policy will be announced by end of next month.

Dr Zafar Mirza, while addressing a seminar in Rawalpindi, predicted that the pharmaceutical sector will witness revolutionary changes in the near future.

The special assistant detailed that an outline on the constitution of
the country’s medicine policy had been prepared in a high-meeting which
was attended by the representatives of pharmaceutical companies and
other stakeholders from all four provinces.

Earlier in May, Dr Zafar Mirza had said that the government has decided
to present a new national medicines policy to regulate the
pharmaceutical industry and controlling the prices of the drug.

The minister had said that the new policy is being made in consultation
with all stakeholders to ensure availability of life-saving drugs and
keeping prices of all drugs in reach of a layman, a state news agency
reported on May 16.

He said that the new medicines policy will also cover the aspect of
rules and regulations to streamline the production of medicines and
maintaining its quality as per international standard.

Dr Mirza said that under this policy, the government will also get
inputs from the stakeholders for announcing more incentives for the
pharma industry in order to convince those producing standard medicines
in the market.

He said that the new policy will also manage the issues related to the
sale of medicines without prescription of medical practitioners and open
sale of unauthorized medicines to customers.

He also revealed plans that the government decided to make Drug
Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) a model regulatory authority
with the introduction of new reforms in order to facilitate the people
and addressing the issues of quality and pricing of drugs. =DNA