Overview
- On Friday, July 3, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif directed an immediate nationwide ban on the manufacture and use of substandard syringes and ordered authorities to halt their supply and production.
- The prime minister instructed prosecutors and regulators to pursue strict legal action against hospitals, clinics, manufacturers or individuals found to be using or supplying unsafe devices and warned that criminal negligence would be prosecuted.
- He ordered formation of a high-level committee of medical and public-health experts to draft recommendations and to consult provincial governments before finalizing measures.
- The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan was told to engage the medical devices industry on policy changes while the Law Ministry was asked to propose legal and regulatory amendments to strengthen oversight and enforcement.
- The move responds to a history of pediatric HIV and hepatitis clusters, including a Sindh High Court petition alleging more than 200 children were infected at a Karachi hospital, and the government’s next steps to watch are detailed enforcement plans, prosecutions and DRAP rules that will determine whether the ban reduces syringe-linked transmission.