KP asks centre to regulate medical devices.

PESHAWAR -- The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has demanded of the federal government to regulate the sale, import, manufacturing and prices of medical devices to enable the people to purchase them at affordable rates during the Covid19 pandemic.

The demand was made by the health department in a letter written to the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Drap) on the directives of chief secretary Dr Kazim Niaz, who called an emergency meeting on the complaints about the sale of medical devices atexorbitantrates.The health department informed the chief secretary about its inability to take action as it was the domain of Drap to regulate the prices of medical devices.

The chief secretary directed the health department to inform the relevant authorities about the situation to ensure the availability of medical devices to the people at affordable prices.

The prices of pulse oximetry, oxygen cylinders and face masks have shot up during the Covid-19 pandemic.

On June 19, deputy secretary (drugs) of the health department Mohammad Ibrahim sent a letter to the Drap CEO seeking the fixing of the prices of medical devices.

`We are unable to control [medical devices`] prices in the absence of any law at the provincial level,` he said.

The official insisted that in order to curb the illegal manufacturing, import, promotion and sale of unregistered medical devices and their registration without price hxation on the pretext of lack of stringentregulations, necessary steps should be taken to make regulations to regulate those items and ensure the required standards, safetypronle andprovenclinicalefncacyto benefit the people.

He noted that with the promulgation of the Drap Act, 2012, medical devices had been given a legal cover that were previously excluded from the definition of `drug` as defined under Section 3(g) of the Drugs Act, 1976, so...