Almost nine months after Pakistan suspended all trading with India in the aftermath of the abrogation of Article 370 by the Indian Parliament, it has now moved to lift the ban on import of medicines amid the Covid crisis.
Pakistan lifts ban on import of medicines from India
According to media reports, the Pakistan government has lifted the ban on the import of medicines and raw material from India to ensure there is no shortage of essential drugs amid the pandemic. Pakistan’s leading English daily The Dawn reported that a number of vitamins, drugs and medicinal salts have been imported from India recently that was quoted in a document of Pakistan’s ministry of national health services (NHS).
The Imran Khan government on August 9, 2019, suspended all kinds of trade with India, following India’s decision to revoke the special status of Jammu & Kashmir under Article 370. However after the pharmaceutical industry there appealed for relaxation and sought clearance for goods already imported from India, the Pakistan government relented.
As per media reports, Pakistan’s pharmaceutical industry further demanded that the ban be lifted on Indian medicines and medicinal raw material because the country might face a severe shortage of medicines, especially life-saving drugs. Subsequently, the federal government lifted the ban on the import of medicines and medicinal raw material from India.
The NHS document, presented before the Khan cabinet on May 5 and available with the daily, states that “the prime minister in his capacity as minister in-charge for NHS sought a list of drugs being imported from India”. The document, signed by MHS secretary Dr. Tanveer Ahmed Qureshi, shows that a number of vaccines, including those to prevent or treat tuberculosis, polio and tetanus, have been imported. Moreover, a number of vitamins, including B1, B2, B6, B12, D3 and zinc sulphate monohydrate, were also being imported from India, according to the Dawn report.
Source — Republic World