Spurious drugs in govt hospitals

Substandard and spurious drugs are being distributed to patients from the counters of government hospitals, according to the state Food and Drug Administration (FDA). FDA sleuths seized substandard and spurious drug worth Rs 3 crore in a drive organised in October this year. In the last week of November, drug inspectors raided government stores as well as pharmaceutical companies, retailers and wholesalers. The drug samples were dispatched to the Public Analyst Laboratory (PAL), Lucknow, for the laboratory test. Majority of the samples picked from the government stores failed the test.

The state government established the FDA in 2008 to put a brake on the substandard and spurious drug racket. Since then, the FDA registered FIR against 372 people involved in the racket, nabbed 263 people and seized spurious drugs worth crores. However, the fake drug industry seems to flourish in UP.

Reason: the racket in the purchase of drugs flourishing in the health department. Not only has the department purchased drugs from blacklisted pharmaceutical companies but, companies that have been debarred in other states on the charge of supplying substandard and spurious drug have been given contracts to supply drug to the government hospitals by the Central Medical Stores Department (CMSD).

HT has copies of the order released by the ministry of health and family welfare informing the state health department about the debarred pharmaceutical firms.

The majority of the debarred firms were not only allowed to participate in the contract floated by the CMSD but managed to get the supply order too. HT has the copies of the order released by the CMSD for the supply of drugs to government hospitals in various districts.

DG, Health, Dr SP Ram said measures were being taken to streamline the purchase of drugs and notices had been issued to erring pharmaceutical companies.

Asked about the supply of drug by blacklisted companies, Ram refused to comment. “The health department was mulling allowing only those companies to participate in the tender whose annual turnover was Rs 25 crore per annum,” he said.