Islamabad: A leading pharmaceutical company has sponsored a group of more than two dozen senior healthcare providers, including consultants, professors and specialists from neurology, cardiology, diabetology, internal medicine and other fields, to travel to the holy city of Madina, Saudi Arabia, under the banner of a Continuing Medical Education activity.
Although advertised as a scientific meeting on cardiometabolic and neuro care, pictures available with Vitals News show several of the participating specialists offering prayers in Masjid-e-Nabvi, the second holiest site for Muslims, turning the trip into what many described as a pilgrimage funded entirely by a private pharmaceutical entity.
All the participating clinicians are financially well off and can easily afford to visit Madina on their own, but still travelled under the sponsorship of the company.
Despite repeated attempts, neither company officials nor the healthcare providers agreed to speak on the record. Some privately insisted there was “no conflict of interest” in combining spiritual travel with a corporate-sponsored CME.
Regulators also hesitated to officially comment. However, a senior official of the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan told Vitals News that sending doctors on religious trips under the guise of scientific engagement was “ethically questionable” and raised serious concerns about industry influence on clinical decision making.
“At the moment, we do not have comprehensive data on the marketing expenses of pharmaceutical companies, but we have asked all of them to submit detailed breakdowns,” the official said. He added that some companies might already be involved in “objectionable marketing practices” and that DRAP’s existing ethical guidelines even specify what kind of gifts can be offered to doctors.
Experts say such activities deepen long-standing concerns about conflicts of interest in Pakistan’s healthcare system, where pharmaceutical promotion frequently overlaps with clinical practice.
A major study by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) has previously documented widespread unethical marketing practices in Pakistan, including incentives, foreign trips, expensive gifts, hospitality and payments that influence prescribing patterns.
Health policy observers argue that a company-funded visit to one of Islam’s holiest places, combined with a nominal academic programme, goes well beyond acceptable professional engagement.
They warn it risks compromising clinical neutrality, especially when the participants include senior consultants responsible for prescribing high-value medicines and influencing treatment standards in public and private hospitals across the country.
Several younger physicians also questioned the message sent by such trips. They pointed out that ordinary patients struggling to afford medicines would find it troubling that senior healthcare providers accept religious travel from the same industry that profits from their prescriptions.
Despite the ethical implications, pharmaceutical-sponsored international travel remains largely unregulated in Pakistan. Without mandatory disclosure rules or audited marketing expenditure reports, such practices continue under the radar, with little transparency regarding how much companies spend on influencing prescribers.
The recent Madina visit has again underscored the need for stronger conflict of interest laws and transparent reporting systems similar to the “Sunshine Act” in the United States, which requires companies to publicly disclose all payments and benefits provided to healthcare professionals.
Until Pakistan introduces similar reforms, observers fear that both patient trust and professional integrity will remain at risk as pharmaceutical marketing continues to push ethical boundaries.