News - Afghanistan

The fake heart medicine dealers will be prosecuted, the Afghan Ministry of Public Health said on Thursday.

Two kinds of such medicines produced by the Punjab Pharmacy Institute have been imported to Afghanistan, the ministry added.

The ministry also called on Afghan pharmacies to quarantine such medicines.

The Ministry requested heart patients not to use Pakistani medicine until the fake medicines are fully identified.

Six types of fake medicines are said to have been produced illegally by the Punjab Pharmacy Institute.

Nearly 100 heart patients have lost their lives in Pakistan by using these medicines.

The ministry is trying to collect all the fake medicines from the market and will put them in quarantine.

"Six types of fake medicines that could cause death have been identified," Acting Health Minister Suraya Dalil said.

The ministry stressed that even though all the companies importing medicines to Afghanistan have licences from Afghan Ministry of Public Health but there are also other ways to bring fake medicines inside the country.

The ministry is concerned about smuggling of these medicines to the country.

There are many patients going to Pakistan for treatment and there is no guarantee that these patients don't use these medicines.