Crackdown on officials, manufacturers of avastin injection intensified

LAHORE: While the government has recalled the avastin injection from the market, there are reports that besides vision loss the diabetic patients who were administered the drug have also developed a life-threatening disease called endophthalmitis.

Endophthalmitis is an inflammation of the inner coats of the eye.

A team of doctors has expressed fears of a surge in the number of affec­ted patients after learning that the drug had been supplied to many trust hospitals, other health facilities and the local market.
Moreover, the health department of Punjab on Monday suspended 12 officials for their inefficiency in manufacturing, sale and distribution of an allegedly adulterated eye drug that led to the loss of eyesight of over a dozen diabetic patients.
Grades 17, 18 and 19 officials are among those suspended and they have been told to immediately report back to the health department.
Deputy Drug Controller Hafiz Alam Sher earlier lodged an FIR at Faisal Town police station under the Drug Regulatory Authority Pakistan (DRAP) Act 2012 against manufacturers of the avastin injection.
Naveed Abdullah of Kahna and Bilal Rasheed were nominated in the case.
They have been accused of manufacturing drug on the premises of a private hospital and supplying it to patients across the province.