Islamabad: A father of a baby girl, who is suffering from cerebral palsy (CP), was compelled to sell his motorbike after a physiotherapist prescribed him nutraceuticals including vitamins, minerals and herbal products which were not required by the young patient.
The father of three-year-old baby girl, a resident of Islamabad, told Vitals News that he was referred to the ‘Tahir Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Complex’ in Charsadda, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where a man identifying himself as a doctor examined his daughter and handed over a long prescription of expensive medicines.
“He told me these were essential for my daughter’s recovery,” the father recalled, “but I didn’t have the money, so I sold my motorcycle to buy medicines worth Rs. 30,000.”
However, the products he was asked to buy were later revealed to be a combination of multivitamins, herbal syrups, memory boosters and so-called appetite stimulants—none of which are proven to treat or benefit children with cerebral palsy.
The child is having congenital hip dislocation as well which is already under treatment by an orthopedic surgeon.
The shocking truth came to light when the distressed father took the medicine boxes to a senior pediatrician in Islamabad and asked how to administer them.
“The moment I looked at the products, I was furious,” the pediatrician said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “No ethical, licensed medical professional would recommend these expensive food supplements to a poor child with CP. This is daylight exploitation. Most of us don’t even charge consultation fees in such cases.”
What’s even more alarming is that the so-called prescriber is not a qualified doctor. The prescription, available with Vitals News, was issued from a physiotherapy clinic, not a hospital, and lists nutraceuticals that are not registered treatments for any medical condition.
According to the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP), “Food supplements, nutraceuticals and nutritional supplements are not for the treatment of any disease.”
Multiple official notifications from DRAP, the Punjab and KP Healthcare Commissions have clearly directed registered medical practitioners to refrain from prescribing these non-essential products, which are categorized as “over-the-counter” items and not part of essential medicines.
Despite these regulations, vulnerable and uninformed patients are regularly fleeced across Pakistan through unethical prescriptions and aggressive marketing tactics.
Experts blame the physician-pharma nexus, where healthcare providers prescribe such products in exchange for commissions, foreign trips and incentives.
This is not the first such incident. Recently, national media reported a shocking case from Islamabad where a 72-year-old woman was prescribed 34 medicines by a consultant in a single hospital, raising alarm over rampant polypharmacy and profit-driven prescribing.
While Pakistan’s regulatory bodies have issued repeated warnings, poor patients like Amna’s father remain easy prey.
“Until strict enforcement and public awareness go hand in hand,” the pediatrician warned, “such heartbreaking tragedies will continue, and the real sufferers will be the voiceless and the innocent.”
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