Lahore seals 40 illegal clinics, medical stores and labs in four days

Lahore authorities sealed 40 illegal clinics, medical stores and diagnostic laboratories across the city over four days, UrduPoint reported on Wednesday, in an enforcement drive whose details the outlet did not disclose.

The report carried the figure without a breakdown. It did not say how many of the 40 premises were clinics, how many were medical stores and how many were diagnostic laboratories.

The outlet also did not name the department or authority that carried out the sealing, the neighbourhoods of Lahore where the outlets were operating, or the dates on which the action began and ended.

Whether any owners or operators were arrested, whether police cases were registered, and whether the sealed premises now face prosecution or only closure were not stated either.

The outlets affected are the kind many patients in Lahore use for basic consultations, medicines and laboratory tests. Clinics and laboratories operating without registration fall outside the inspection system that licensed facilities are subject to, and unregistered medical stores fall outside the checks that govern the sale of medicines.

Punjab has periodically run drives against unregistered medical facilities, though the report did not link this action to any specific campaign or announcement.

UrduPoint's report was confined to the headline figure of 40 outlets sealed in four days. Skardu Times could not independently confirm the number of premises or the length of the operation, and no official statement from a named department was available with the report.

Readers in Lahore are likely to learn which areas were covered, and what action was taken against the owners, only when the enforcing department issues its own account.