President of Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI) Shabbir Hussain Chawla has endorsed the demands of pharmaceutical companies and urged the federal and Punjab governments to immediately accept their genuine demands.
Faisalabad, (Pakistan Point News - 2nd Apr, 2018) : President of Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI) Shabbir Hussain Chawla has endorsed the demands of pharmaceutical companies and urged the Federal and Punjab governments to immediately accept their genuine demands. In a statement issue here Monday, he said that the pharmaceutical industry and druggists are protesting peacefully against the harsh Clauses of Drug Act-1976. They were also forced to go on strike last year but after tragic bomb blast, they voluntarily decided to call-off their strike in best national interest.
He said that after this tragedy, they used all available peaceful means to negotiate and settled their issues but government departments remained adamant which is main bone of contention between the government and the pharmaceutical industry. Shabbir Hussain Chawla further stated that there are total 759 pharmaceutical units in Pakistan, out of which 440 are in Punjab. He told that in 2012 Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in this sector was 53 million Dollars that has now dwindled to only 3.
3 million Dollar only due to the poor regulatory system and harsh clauses included in the Drug Act. He said that hundreds and thousands of medical stores are linked with the pharmaceutical industry and all are at the mercy of health department after the most discouraging amendments in the Drug Act. He criticized heavy fines and punishments including imprisonment of druggists who are generally peace loving businessmen. The FCCI President further said that the amendment in the Drug Act has made them a criminal instead of Businessmen and this situation is unacceptable to the entire business community of Pakistan.
He demanded of the government to start negotiation with the concerned office bearers of pharmaceutical industry and druggists to resolve this issue immediately as they have once again issued a strike call from April 05, 2018. He said that government should facilitate pharmaceutical industry instead of implementing harsh legislation which is also discouraging fresh investment in this important sector of national economy.
