New Delhi, A scheme with suitable rewards for whistle blowers has been announced to detect the movement of spurious drugs in the country through increased public participation, the government on Tuesday said.

"A whistleblower scheme has been announced to encourage vigilant public participation in detection of movement of spurious drugs in the country," Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said replying to a question in the Rajya Sabha on steps taken by the government to control the movement of spurious drugs.

Under the policy, the informers are suitably rewarded for providing concrete information in respect of movement of spurious drugs to the regulatory authorities, the Minister told the House.
On cases of spurious drugs detected in different parts of the country by State Drugs Control Authorities (SDCA), he said there is no report of any large scale manufacture of spurious and sub-standard drugs in the country.

"Recently, cases of spurious drugs have been unearthed by SDCA of Haryana, Drug Controller of Himachal Pradesh and North Zone office of CDSCO in Uttar Pradesh," he said.

In 2010-11, out of the 49,682 drug samples tested, 2372 were declared as 'Not of Standard Quality' while 95 were found spurious or adulterated and 72 persons were arrested for this.

For ensuring stringent and speedy action by regulatory authorities, the Drugs and Cosmetics Act-1940 was amended in 2008 to provide more stringent penalties for manufacture of spurious and adulterated drugs.

"Certain offences have been made cognizable and non-bailable The inspectorate staff has been instructed to keep vigil and draw samples of drugs for testing and analysis to monitor the quality of drugs moving in the country," the Minister said.

Source: The Financial Express