Govt cracks down on fake drugs menace

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Late action in right direction-Thousands of lives already lost and many more may suffer till effect of govt action .become visible.

Govt cracks down on fake drugs menace

By Neetu Chandra in New Delhi

THE government is taking major steps to crack down on the fake drugs menace in India. The health and family welfare ministry has hired about 100 inspectors to check spurious medicines, while the department of pharmaceuticals has issued notifications asking pharma companies to use nanotechnology for identifying such drugs. According to a World Health Organization report, almost 20 per cent medicines sold in India are fake. Dr Jagdish Prasad, director general of health services in the health ministry, said: “ There are more than 10,000 drug manufacturers and more than six lakh outlets that sell fake drugs. We are in the process of increasing the man force to check counterfeit drugs.” National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority ( NPPA) director and central public information officer K. K. Jain confirmed a notification had recently been issued for a nonclonable ID nanotag for pharmaceutical companies. “ They can affix it on a strip or blister provided that the manufacturing or marketing company concerned has no objection in providing and sharing the data contained in the tag with the NPPA and government,” Jain said. He added that the cost per tag on the packaging of tablets and capsules will come to ` 1.02. “ Not many companies are using it currently because of the costs involved. They prefer holograms to check drug piracy as they are cost- effective,” Jain said.