Antidote to drugs: On the counterfeit medicine racket in Bengaluru, Karnataka

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With the recent bust of a counterfeit medicine racket in Bengaluru , a public policy issue with broad ramifications for health care in the State has emerged. Centered around Bengaluru, relabelled or fake drugs , including cancer drugs, injections used in the ICU, were supplied to more than 90 hospitals and clinics across the State. The lid was blown off this elaborate scam after incidental raids, near Bidadi in Karnataka on August 18, found suspected fake drugs and expired drugs at a farmhouse which was an unlicensed unit. The consignment had a label value of ₹5 crore. Investigators said that the farmhouse was used in an illicit drug operation — involving the repacking of fake and expired drugs as fresh consignments, with altered expiry dates, and as expensive, imported branded drugs — which were then sold at massive discounts. The State later formed a Special Investigation Team to trace the wider network. While exploring the distribution mechanism, investigators found that the network had been supplying these drugs to over 90 hospitals in the State, in cahoots with a pharmacy in Bengaluru, indicating that a network was thriving well before the bust. A few persons have been arrested and the police are on the tail of another who is not in the country at present. The impunity with which the scamsters were operating is an indication of the unreliable scrutiny of the quality of drugs in the market. The biggest concern, however, is patient safety, given that these are drugs that can save lives and are marked out for time-sensitive usage. Also being examined are possible inter-State links, as investigators have launched a complete review of the supply chain. The illicit channels through which private hospitals bought and used these drugs, including possible complicity in the private hospital network, are under scrutiny.

With alarming regularity, issues to do with poor quality, spurious, fake or expired drugs hit the headlines in India. For a nation that zealously aspires to become the ‘pharmacy of the world’, India struggles to match its ambition with adequate and stringent monitoring and quality control systems. The question of drug quality is particularly significant as fake or spurious drugs can cause immediate adverse reactions, lead to severe disabilities, and even death. Recent incidents of contaminated cough syrups causing deaths, not only in India, but across the world, have further highlighted these woefully inadequate systems and consistently dented the pride of the “Make in India” campaign. Irrespective of whether India becomes the pharmacy of the world, there is a pressing need to make sure that drugs and medical supplies made in the country fulfil the highest quality standards.

pharmaceutical / Bengaluru / cancer / Drugs / Karnataka / investigation / crime / hospital and clinic / India / prescription drugs

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