Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to Deploy Five Mobile Drug Testing Labs Next Week

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is set to strengthen its medicine monitoring system with the addition of five mobile drug screening laboratories, which will begin operating next week. The vans are designed to help authorities check medicines sold in markets across the province for quality problems, including substandard and counterfeit products.

Adviser to the Governor on Health and Population Nigar Johar Khan inspected the newly equipped laboratory vans on Friday during a visit to the Directorate General of Drug Control and Pharmacy Services. She also toured various sections of the directorate and received a briefing on its regulatory functions, medicine quality monitoring and efforts to ensure the availability of safe medicines.

According to officials, the five laboratories will be formally inaugurated at the Governor House next Tuesday. The vans carry modern Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and Raman technology, which will allow drug inspectors to carry out preliminary tests on site. The equipment can examine a medicine's chemical composition and ingredients and check whether it complies with prescribed strength standards.

Authorities plan to deploy the mobile laboratories across different divisions of the province so that inspectors can test medicines in local markets and other locations. If preliminary screening flags suspicious or substandard products, inspectors will collect samples and send them to the Drug Testing Laboratory in Peshawar for detailed analysis and further action.

The initiative is part of broader efforts to tighten oversight of the pharmaceutical market and improve access to safe, effective medicines for residents. By bringing testing capability closer to where medicines are sold, officials aim to speed up the detection of questionable products and support regulatory action against those found violating quality standards.