Pak court seeks govt response over medicines from India

I / Islamabad November 25, 2009, 13:26 IST

A Pakistani court has sought responses from federal authorities to a petition challenging the amendment of policy to allow the import of medicines and vaccines from India.

A Rawalpindi-based single judge bench of the Lahore High Court issued notices to the federal secretaries of the ministries of health and commerce after a private pharmaceutical company filed a petition against the amendment in policy for trade with India.

The court also issued notices yesterday on a civil application against an earlier stay on the purchase of Indian vaccines as the federal government had revised the trade policy, clearing the way for import of vaccines from the neighbouring country.

The court will take up both matters on December 2. While taking up an application filed by the government, the judge observed that it seemed the stay granted by the court on imports from India had annoyed the administration, which had decided to amend the policy.

In its petition, the pharmaceutical company said the government should be stopped from amending the trade policy as stakeholders had not been taken on board about the changes.