City government launches crackdown on spurious drugs

Hunt for spurious drugs by the Delhi government’s drugs control department has led to prosecution of one accused and two others, alleged to be sellers of fake drugs, are being investigated. In the fiscal year 2015-16, five spurious drug samples were identified out of 102 samples collected by the department.

Responding to a question asked by AAP MLA Jarnail Singh, the Kejriwal government said the drugs samples detected as spurious have been purportedly manufactured by different companies — IPCA Lab Lt, Sikkim; Aristo Pharma Ltd, Baddi, Himachal Pradesh; Inventia Healthcare Pvt Ltd, Bari, Jammu and Kashmir; and Abbott Healthcare Pvt Ltd, Bhauli Kurad, Himachal Pradesh. Fake samples of Zerodol-sp tablet, Pantop-D capsule, Pantop-DSR capsule and Phensidyl syrup were detected by the drugs control department, the Kejriwal government said. According to the city administration, 10 samples of other drugs were declared “not of standard quality.”

The department collects drug samples from wholesalers, manufacturing units and agencies involved in sale and purchase of drugs for quality testing purposes. The fake samples are sent to the concerned manufacturers for identification purposes.

According to the government, the department has also launched a crackdown on chemists selling habit-forming drugs. It has cancelled licences of three chemists, namely Sahini Medicos, Tilak Nagar; Bindra Medicos, Chand Nagar; and Simrat Medicos, Chand Nagar. And after a raid on August 11, the Kejriwal government also issued notices to four chemists.