LAHORE: The Federal Investigation Age ncy suspects that 700 medical stores and pharmacies in Lahore keep spurious medicines.

FIA Lahore Director Dr Usman Anwar has written to the district health authorities, providing them details of these outlets.

The FIA has asked the district authorities to immediately start examining the stock of these outlets and initiate action again st the suppliers and the stockists.

An FIA official told Dawn that the agency had come to know about the outlets during its ongoing clampdown on manufacturers and sellers of spurious drugs in the city. “We have so far arrested 10 manufacturers and sellers after raiding six small medicine factories and medical stores and found spurious drugs, including life-saving medicines, in abundance,” he said, adding that even some big stores were not ensuring that they were selling genuine medicines.

“During interrogation, the accused revealed that fake warranty of medicines was also being used. It is not about a few specific spurious drugs but of all kinds, including life-saving ones,” he said.

The official said the FIA had apprised the health authorities of the situation because it did not want to lay hand on the medical outlets on its own to avoid panic in the industry.

“We expect the health authorities to thoroughly examine the record and stock of these outlets and take stern action against the guilty. Then the operation should be expanded to other parts of the province because this menace is not limited to Lahore. They must also expose the officials who are hand in glove with the criminal elements in this business,” he said.

The FIA investigation puts a question mark on the health authorities’ performance and what steps they have been taking to ensure that standard medicines are provided to the people.

Two drug scams have surfaced in Lahore over the past couple of years, claiming the lives of over 150 patients.