PESHAWAR: Health department seized a total of 15,159 suspected samples of medicines in the year 2024 of which 474 were declared substandard, 358 unregistered and 26 were found adulterated. A report compiled by drug control and pharmacy department at Directorate General Health Services, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said that inspections were carried out by 55 drug inspectors during the year 2024. It said that 9,044 samples were sent to drug testing laboratory (DTL) for analysis to check their quality and the results showed that 4.9 per cent (474) were found substandard, 2.4 per cent (358) unregistered, 0.4 per cent (26) adulterated, 0.9 per cent (139) misbranded and 0.2 per cent (53) were found in contravention of Clause H of Drug Act, 1976. There are a total of 20,250 pharmacy stores in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and merged districts. A total of 2,134 (14.1pc) seizures were recorded from the pharmacies. A total of 219 (1.4pc) samples were found to be spurious. The department sealed 250 (1.6pc) shops, wholesales outlets and registered 108 (0.7pc) cases. Health dept seals 250 shops and registers 108 cases The report said that 2,757 cases were referred to Provincial Quality Control Board (PQCB) under 19 (6) of Drug Act, 1976. It said that 620 (22.5pc) prosecutions were launched in the drug court. The court resolved 383 (61.8pc) cases and imposed fines totaling Rs9.552 million on the owners of medicine shops. Month-wise statistics showed fluctuations in the activity, with August recording the highest inspections of 1,508 and 1,259 sample collections whereas October marked the peak in prosecutions launched against 76 owners of medicine stores. Similarly, the highest fines were imposed in the month of November, amounting to Rs2.433 million. Overall; the report reflects robust efforts to ensure quality control and regulatory compliance in the pharmaceutical industry. To ensure and implement the pharmaceutical jurisprudence in respect of sale, distribution and dispensing of drugs to public consumption of the province as per the law, the federal government has the authority to issue manufacturing licences, drugs registration and fix pricing besides look after matters related to import and export of therapeutic goods. Officials said that they introduced a new technology, the first of its kind in the country, to facilitate analysts to carry out inspection of suspected medicines on the spot and save time and risks associated with raw material analysis. The technology introduced in 2022 has been helping inspectors to tests suspected samples of medicines on the spot. “Previously, we had to test all suspected samples through traditional way that consumed time as well as ingredients but the new mechanism helped us to test more samples in the shortest possible time,” they said. Officials said that two new vehicles purchased at Rs9 million and many equipment imported from the US at a cost of Rs18 million had been used to save time and get authentic results. The new technology, known as Raman, was an accepted spectroscopic technique both by the United States Pharmacopia Convention (USP) and European Pharmacopia (EP). They said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was the first province of the country to import the new technology for testing drugs. They said that the novel technology was also used in foreign countries for raw material clearance and identification of narcotics at airport and borders. “Prior to import of the new technology, we faced a lot of difficulties in getting the suspected items from market and then testing the same but now we can find suspected drugs during inspections and test only them at the laboratory,” said officials.