The number of addicts in Pakistan has surpassed the staggering figure of 9 million that is far more than that of China, Sri Lanka, India and even Europe. This was revealed by the experts while speaking at the inaugural ceremony of Bioequivalence Studies and Quality Tracking System workshop jointly organised by the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) and Punjab Industrial Estate (PIE) here at the LCCI here on Friday.

The experts including Dr Masood Bhatti, Dr Nasim Ahmad, Amjad Ali Jawa addressed the workshop and said that the death ratio of the drug addicts is also much bigger than the other countries and the only reason was the sale of medicines without prescription therefore there is a dire need for the legislation to ban this sale.

The PIE Chief Executive Major General Javed Iqbal (Retd) said that the only objective of setting up of Pakistan Drug Testing Laboratory and Research Centre is to facilitate the Pharma sector to ensure availability of quality medicines to the masses. He said that the Punjab government has provided a grant of Rs 80 million for the Research Centre.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2012