- Advertisement -
PESHAWAR, Mar 21 (APP):President Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) Fazal Moqeem Khan urged the government to take steps to accelerate all medical devices registration process and give extension in date of the registration to prevent a major crisis in the health sector in the country.
Fazal Moqeem Khan, in a statement issued here on Friday, said that deadline for registration of medical devices was given 31st December 2024 by the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP), now it is March 2025, but a large number of cases for registration have been delayed that has created a major crisis of medical devices KP and rest areas of the country.
The SCCI chief said the number of shipments stuck at the airport has not only been inflicting huge financial loss to the business community attached with the medical device industry but it was also affecting treatment of the patients at various health facilities.
Moqeem urged the government to expedite medical equipment registration along with giving extension in date of the registration so as to ease difficulties of traders attached with this important sector and also prevent them from huge monetary loss.
The SCCI president said health is an important sector, which is passing through a crisis situation.
He expressed fear that the shortage of medical devices would miserably affect operations, patient treatments and other healthcare facilities in hospitals across the country.
The delay in registration is not an issue of importers or the medical devices industry but it is a national issue which needs to be addressed at earliest, because it would have negative impacts on national economy, trade and businesses, Moqeem remarked.
The SCCI president said 90 percent of medical devices imported in Pakistan, include surgical instruments, diagnostic machines, MRI, CT scan, cardiac stents, dialysis machines and other important medical equipments.
Moqeem urged the government to take pragmatic steps for resolution of issues associated with the medical devices industry.
Similarly, he stressed the need of simplifying the process of medical devices registration.
SCCI chief requested Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Federal Minister for Health Mustafa Kamal and authorities concerned to extend the date of medical devices registration across the country.