Prime Minister Imran Khan has taken notice of import of common medicines and vitamins from India in the name of lifesaving drugs and ordered an investigation into the issue.

The issue came to the surface when a summary for import of another 429 medicines from India was presented to the cabinet at the last meeting. The 24NewsHD TV had run a report on inside story of the cabinet meeting on May 5.

Lifesaving drugs import from India twisted to mint money

There is no shortage of scams in Pakistan as another scandal has emerged in which the permission to import lifesaving medicines from India was used to transport other drugs, 24NewsHD TV reported on Friday.

The companies involved in the scandal not imported other medicines but also 429 active pharmaceutical ingredients.

The approval for import from India was taken from the federal cabinet by the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination.

According to the documents, 12 vaccines and 59 medicines were among the imported items. And even vitamin tablets as well as those medicines which are produced in Pakistan were included in the consignments.

Pakistan had banned all kinds of imports from India after New Delhi changed the legal status of Jammu and Kashmir. However, the permission was sought for importing the lifesaving drug only in September last year.

Expressing his displeasure over the issue, the prime minister directed Shahzad Akbar – his adviser on accountability – to conduct an inquiry.

Meanwhile, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have not been allowed the medicines necessary to tackle dengue from India.

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