Medical Reporter Daily Dawn , Dawn TV Report
London: Scientific research has revealed that more than 100 countries around the world, including Pakistan, were supplied with drugs used in the treatment of cancer that were not only ineffective but also found to be harmful to health in some cases.
An investigative report has created a global alarm, according to which important chemotherapy drugs, which are used to treat various types of cancer, were exported to more than 100 countries without meeting the standards.
These countries included Nepal, Ethiopia, North Korea, and Pakistan, as well as developed and influential countries like the United States, Britain and Saudi Arabia.
Not only were the effective ingredients found to be low in the drugs used, but some also contained toxic ingredients, which could prove dangerous for patients.
The drug is not just for children, but has affected cancer patients of all ages, including breast and ovarian cancer patients, leukemia, colorectal cancer and other blood cancers.
According to experts, a drug like Asparaginase, which is used to treat blood cancer, is used more in children and has affected about 70,000 children.
The seven main chemotherapy drugs sampled in the study include Cisplatin, Cyclophosphamide, Doxorubicin, Ifosfamide, Leucovorin, Methotrexate and Oxaliplatin.
All these drugs are the backbone of patients with different types of cancer, but according to the report, their different batches were either completely ineffective or of substandard quality.
These drugs have been used without any testing in many countries of the world, and the World Health Organization (WHO) has not yet issued any medical product alerts, while pharmaceutical companies and regulatory agencies are also silent.
It was also found that patients and doctors were not provided with complete information about the quality of the drug.
Later, American experts developed a cheap and effective device called chemoPAD, which can check the quality of the drug for just $ 2. This device can be used immediately in any hospital and this system has been introduced in many African countries.
However, in developing countries, due to the unavailability of this device, substandard drugs are still being given to patients.
Experts and health workers are urging the World Health Organization (WHO) to immediately issue alerts, publish a list of substandard drugs, hold pharmaceutical companies accountable, and implement a quality check system in the affected countries.
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