Healthcare Devices Association on acute shortages of Medical Devices

Pakistan is to face acute shortages of Medical Devices & Diagnostic products in the country very soon resulting disruption of medical facilities for life-saving treatments across the country: Adnan A. Siddiqui

The Healthcare Devices Association of Pakistan has warned that due to problems in the import of medical devices & diagnostic products in the country, the fear of a serious crisis in the provision of medical facilities is looming.

“As the discontinuation of medical facilities and life-saving surgeries have started in Pakistan, the lives of countless individuals are at risk. The lack of access to necessary healthcare is a devastating reality for many in the country. Due to the ban on the import of medical devices & diagnostic products into the country, a serious crisis in the provision of medical facilities has started, which will assume a serious situation in the coming days.”

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This was expressed by the Senior Vice Chairman of the Healthcare Devices Association of Pakistan, Adnan Ahmed Siddiqui, in a special meeting with the representative of Duniya TV.

He further informed that the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan had made the registration of medical devices mandatory after which the import policy was made subject to a DRAP certificate.

“The DRAP has not been able to make decisions on most of the registration applications submitted over the past several years and so far, only about 3,000 applications have been dealt with, while the number of medical items used in Pakistan are more than 300,000. DRAP extended the time for registration through SRO 526 till December 31, 2022, after which all unregistered medical devices and laboratory tests cannot be imported legally and sold from January 1, 2023.

He also added that foreign exchange issues are also causing major issues as local banks are not opening L/Cs and not making payments of imports, despite State Bank of Pakistan’s direction to banks to prioritize payments of Pharmaceuticals & Surgical Items/Medical Devices & Diagnostic products. As a result imports are almost at halt.

He said that the NO MEDICAL TREATMENT IS POSSIBLE WITHOUT USING ATLEAST ONE MEDICAL DEVICE OR DIAGNOSTIC PRODUCT.

Medical devices are used in all types of diagnostic tests, emergency rooms, ICUs, Operating Theatres, Surgical & Medical wards and clinics. Medical devices range from syringes, cannulas, blood sugar, and blood pressure monitoring devices to ultrasound, X-ray, CT scan, MRI machines & diagnostic tests and without medical devices, no hospital can provide healthcare facilities. 90% of the medical devices used in Pakistan’s hospitals are imported, and due to the stoppage of imports, various treatments in hospitals are impacting.