Islamabad: The registration of criminal cases and arrests of pharmaceutical company representatives visiting public sector hospitals in Punjab has triggered a strong backlash from the pharmaceutical industry, pharmacists, and sales and marketing professionals, reopening a long-standing debate over how drug marketing should be regulated in government health facilities without undermining professional dignity, institutional collaboration, or patient care.
The controversy follows strict enforcement orders issued by the Punjab Health Department, which has imposed a complete ban on the entry of medical representatives of private pharmaceutical companies into public hospitals.
Acting on these instructions, officials recently registered FIRs and arrested four pharmaceutical company representatives during an inspection at Allama Iqbal Memorial Teaching Hospital in Sialkot. Those taken into custody included a general manager and other senior management officials belonging to some of the country’s leading pharmaceutical companies, a move that industry leaders have described as unprecedented and disproportionate.
According to official directives circulated to all Medical Superintendents, no medical representative is permitted within hospital premises. The instructions further require hospital administrations to initiate criminal proceedings rather than issuing warnings and to take disciplinary action against doctors found facilitating or entertaining company representatives. The department has warned that any failure to ensure full compliance would be treated as misconduct.
Punjab health department officials maintain that the ban is intended to prevent undue influence on prescribing practices, eliminate conflicts of interest, and shield patients from commercial pressures within public hospitals. They argue that repeated warnings were ignored, leaving the department with no option but to enforce the policy strictly.
However, the method of enforcement, particularly the use of police action and criminal charges against senior industry professionals, has drawn widespread criticism from across the pharmaceutical sector and the pharmacy community.
In a joint reaction, industry representatives termed the action excessive and counterproductive, stressing that pharmaceutical professionals should not be treated as criminals. They warned that portraying the entire industry negatively without consultation risks damaging a sector that plays a critical role in sustaining Pakistan’s fragile public health system.
A senior official of the Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association said the crackdown ignored the long-standing contribution of the local pharmaceutical industry to public healthcare.
He pointed out that pharmaceutical companies supply medicines to government hospitals at highly subsidised rates, often far below open-market prices, to ensure continuity of treatment for poor patients. “This is not the way an industry that supports public healthcare should be treated,” he said.
The PPMA official added that for decades, pharmaceutical companies have also helped upgrade facilities at public sector hospitals by supporting repairs, maintenance, and the provision of medical equipment and basic amenities that were not adequately funded by the government. “Instead of engagement and structured regulation, the industry is being met with handcuffs,” he remarked.
“The issue is not regulation,” a senior industry official said. “The issue is whether criminalisation and public humiliation are the right tools to fix structural weaknesses.”
Current and former PPMA officials including former Chairman Tauqeer-ul-Haq said their organisation was already drafting formal letters against what he described as an unjustified action and flawed policy, which would be sent to Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, the provincial health minister and the Punjab health secretary, adding that the association would pursue all available legal and constitutional avenues to challenge the move and protect the rights and functioning of private healthcare providers.
Senior pharmacist Huma Rasheed said regulation was necessary but should be transparent and system driven rather than enforced through coercive action, adding that interactions between doctors and pharmaceutical companies must not disrupt patient care and should be routed through proper institutional channels.
She warned that weak systems combined with aggressive enforcement could worsen governance and suggested that Punjab revive existing ethical frameworks or adopt the World Health Organization code on pharmaceutical promotion to ensure fair and accountable practices.
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