Islamabad - The District administration on Wednesday directed all pharmacies for the uninterrupted supply and availability of Dexamethasone medicine for the treatment of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) patients.

The administration taking notice of the shortage of medicine directed all pharmacies not to provide the medicine without the prescription of the doctors.

The notification issued by the administration said that the District Administration has taken serious notice of reported shortage of the medicine Tab Dexamethasone (all strengths) in some pharmacies. In this regard, all pharmacies shall ensure the uninterrupted supply and availability of the medicine at the prevalent rates.

It said that the medicine shall be sold only to consumers with a valid prescription having stamp and signature of a registered medical practitioner having PMDC registration number on it. It also said that moreover, for every sale, the pharmacies/retailers shall keep a copy of the prescription and ensure entry into the sale register for the purpose of record and audit by the Assistant Commissioners. 

The administration further directed that the sale of the above-mentioned medicine at inflated or exorbitant rates or the sale in bulk or its artificial shortage by hoarding shall be cognizable under the Profiteering and Hoarding Act 1977, the Drug Act, 1976 and the Schedule-II of the DRAP Act, 2012.

It added that all the Assistant Commissioners are directed to make inspection and conduct audit of the pharmacies in their areas of jurisdictions.

 with further instructions to ensure uninterrupted supply of the medicine dexamethasone and its sale consumers.