Reports of an unsafe injection that caused the blindness of several patients prompted the authorities to act on Sunday in ISLAMABAD. Public health has been put at risk, and an investigation has been launched to determine who is to blame for the contaminated drug recall.

At a news conference, Punjab’s caretaker health minister, Dr. Nadeem Jan, stated that an injectable made locally and marketed for the treatment of conjunctivitis was to blame for a spate of cases of blindness in the province. He said the injection was taken off the market, and that legal action had been taken against the manufacturers.
About 20 people experienced eyesight loss after receiving the injection, as reported by Dr. Jan, who was accompanied by Punjab Health Minister Dr. Jamal Nasir. Sadiqabad, Lahore, Lasur, and Multan all had incidents reported.
King Edward Medical University’s Dr. Asad Aslam Khan has been appointed to head a five-person committee charged with investigating the situation and proposing solutions to prevent future occurrences. Doctors Muhammad Sohail (Director General of Drugs Control), Muhammad Moin (Mayo Hospital Lahore), Tayyaba (Lahore General Hospital), and Mohsin (Services Hospital) make up the committee’s medical experts.
Dr. Jan said they sent off for testing on the injection and should have results in about three days. The drug and its distribution chain are the subject of an ongoing investigation.
There is a greater probability of viral illnesses due to the lack of rain.
Dr. Jamal Nasir, the minister of Punjab, said all available supplies of the problematic injection had been seized and sealed, and drug inspectors had been dispatched throughout the province.
All medical professionals and patients have been handed a directive telling them to stop prescribing or taking that medication. It is illegal for pharmacies, distributors, and wholesalers to sell it.
On behalf of the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP), a case was filed at the Faisal Town Police Station in Lahore.
For conjunctivitis, “the case specified that the conjunctivitis treatment injection was manufactured by a private hospital laboratory in Faisal Town.”
The regional minister for heath said that police were conducting raids to seize the lab’s owner, Naveed Abdullah, and one of his employees, Bilal Rasheed. “The accused are involved in manufacturing and stockpiling unlicensed drugs and selling unregistered injections,” he continued.
First Information Report (FIR) states that in violation of the DRAP and the Drug Acts of 1976 and 2012, suspect Bilal supplied the bogus injections in Kasur. For each injection, they wanted Rs100,000. They had connections all the way to Multan and Sadiqabad, not just Lahore and Kasur.
Later that day, Mohsin Naqvi, the caretaker chief minister of Punjab, led a meeting to formulate a four-point plan to handle the incidents of vision loss in the province. A two-week restriction on the sale and use of Avastin for ophthalmology-related therapies, free treatment for impacted patients, and the formation of a high-powered inquiry team are all components of this strategy.
The ‘pink eye’ infection has spread to Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
These steps are being taken to conduct a thorough investigation, guarantee the quality of treatment provided to the patient, and forestall any additional injection-related events.
The administration is committed to protecting the health of the people of Punjab and holding the guilty to account.
According to a release from the Punjab government’s Directorate of Public Relations in Rawalpindi, Dr. Nasir had previously visited Dr. Jan in Islamabad to update him on the caretaker government’s response to the Avastin-related outbreak of an eye infection.
Dr. Nasir reported during the conference that the prompt actions taken helped halt the usage of injection, while an investigation was launched to determine if the problem was with the injection itself or its supply chain. He said the investigation would determine whether or not a mistake was made in how the injection was handled.
Dr. Nasir emphasised that until the facts were determined through a proper investigation, no definitive statements could be made concerning the situation. In light of the test findings and the inquiry report, he promised severe judicial action.
Earlier media reports claimed that hundreds of patients’ vision had been damaged by the tainted injections they received at hospitals in Kasur and Lahore.
Multan and Sadiqabad soon had reports of events as well.