Delhi Government cracks down on fake, substandard drugs
Many of the drug samples seized by Delhi Government during their raid in March were found to be either fake or not containing active salts, said officials. In the past six months, the government tested 292 drug samples, out of which five were found to be spurious and 13 were of low quality. The samples were seized from a Northwest Delhi warehouse, added officials.
'Drug failing quality test less than last year', but..
Officials, however, added the "number of drugs failing quality test is less than last year." But, the number of samples tested last year was also much more than this year's. 584 samples were tested, out of which 30 were found to be of substandard quality.
Among five, four were combination drugs and fifth was antihistamine
Among the five fake drugs, four were found to be combination drug of domperidone and pantoprazole, useful to treat acidity, heartburn, nausea and vomiting, said Delhi drug control department. The fifth one, an antihistamine, is used for treating allergies. Government officials said a court case has been registered against Ashok Kumar (40), Bijender Singh (55) and their employees, who're allegedly responsible for the racket.
Of 13, some had lesser weight, some had abnormal pH-level
Out of the 13 samples that failed the test, one was an antibacterial drug cefuroxime and another was the painkiller diclofenac sodium. Both had lesser weight than the average standard. One medicine used for asthma management, albutamol syrup, was found to have abnormal pH level. A fixed-dose combination drug of ofloxacin and metronidazole had more of the latter, as against uniform quantity of both.
If active ingredient amount differs than authorized, 'it'll cause toxicity'
Delhi drug control department head AK Nasa said in case of fixed-dose combination medicines, if an active ingredient "is very less than intended the drugs will fail." "It'll cause toxicity, which is more harmful," added a Lok Nayak Hospital professor. A Delhi government pharmacist, however, said drugs without active ingredient are few nowadays, because "the ingredients can be imported from China at cheap rates."
Crackdown on medicine stores too; licenses suspended for many
Not just manufacturers, action was also taken against 207 medicine stores combining both wholesale and retail, for not maintaining "registers for the schedule H1 drugs (high-end antibiotics, including TB drugs)," said Nasa. Others were found to be "selling prescription drugs without asking for a prescription." "The licenses of most of these shops have already been suspended and the rest are being processed," he added.
