Pakistan outlaws firms sending physicians on sponsored overseas trips.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has prohibited physicians and hospital employees from traveling overseas on pharmaceutical company-sponsored excursions. The NIH sent this letter to all federally funded hospitals.
“I am instructed to address the matter mentioned earlier and to declare that going forward, any requests for leave from Pakistan submitted to this Ministry must include an affidavit from the relevant officers stating that their overseas travel is not intended for attending conferences or seminars and is not supported by any private organization, donor, etc.,” the NIH letter said.

In addition, a new code of conduct for pharmaceutical corporations and physicians was recently released by the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP).

Following federal approval, DRAP informed physicians and pharmaceutical firms about the new regulations.

The warning said that the travel expenditures of doctors’ families and other relatives would not be covered by the pharmaceutical firms. As per the DRAP announcement, doctors will not get reimbursed for their international travel expenses unless they have a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from their respective institution.