'Surprise checks necessary to combat spurious drugs': Dinesh Gundu Rao

Bengaluru: Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao said on Saturday that regular surprise checks, inspections and enforcement of laws are necessary to curb the manufacturing and sales of spurious drugs, and over-the-counter medicines in pharmacies and pharmaceutical companies across the state. 

He was speaking at the All India Drugs Control Officers' Confederation's (AIDCOC) silver jubilee celebrations, where discussions on enhancing patient safety through consumer-centric regulations were held.

"It doesn't matter if it is a small or big (pharma) company... The drugs control department must ensure that they maintain high standards of manufacturing, following proper protocols that are of international standards. There should not be any relaxation in allowing people to be able to manufacture (drugs) in sub-standard conditions," he said.

"We have to ensure that the enforcement and inspections wings of the department are working at that level...the enforcement of the law is of the greatest importance and that fear of law must exist. The department will get the full support of the government for this," Rao said.

"We have to ensure that our pharmacies and medical stores are not giving drugs without proper prescriptions. CM had a meeting recently...our department was able to catch many people selling Tapentadol in a joint operation with the police department," he noted.

Non-standard quality drugs can have serious implications on public health due to poor efficacy, which can lead to deterioration of one's health, he warned, adding that antimicrobial resistance will become a huge health challenge for the state in the near future.

Drugs controller Dr Umesh S noted that Karnataka has 394 manufacturing units, 115 medical device units, 43 approved labs, 259 blood centres, 54,000 sales establishments and three drug testing labs, all under the department.

He noted that there are only five drug inspectors in the city and 102 posts are vacant.

Sessions explored strategies to combat spurious drugs, protect public health, ensure only effective medications reach patients, and have stronger enforcement mechanisms, better consumer awareness and stringent regulations for pharmaceutical companies.