Srinagar, Sep 08 (KNS): At a time when it is observed that no proper policy mechanism is in place for testing of drugs, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare asked the Jammu and Kashmir government for vigilant approach for tackling the menace of substandard drugs.
One of the top officials of the union health and family welfare ministry told KNS that although overall scenario of drug quality is improving in the state, but there is need for concerted efforts to have zero tolerance to quality compromises from the state drug authorities.
He said that the government must implement scientific statistical approaches and comprehensive sampling in addition to better infrastructure in J&K. “As per the the National Drug Survey 2016 the state should ensure that most of the samples sent for testing were from rural areas, including those villages where not even a vehicle would go,” he added.
It has been alleged that most of the drugs entering Jammu and Kashmir is not being checked. Sources in the health department told KNS that drug market in the state is under the dragnet of poor-quality drugs. “There is a deep-rooted nexus between the drug mafia and shoddy pharma units that pump massive quantities of substandard drugs in JK,”sources alleged.
Sources maintained that it has been seen from last so many years that less than 1% of the drugs get actually checked and more than 99% of medicines are entering Jammu and Kashmir without quality assurance.Click Here To Follow Our WhatsApp Channel
Sources said that there are doctors who prescribe these drugs to patients and in return receive huge money from these firms.
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India in its latest report has also brought to fore some derogatory revelations on how patients’ health is being compromised due to absence of a drug testing policy in Jammu and Kashmir. “The audit revealed that no policy mechanism was in place for testing of drugs before these are administered to patients,” reads the report which was tabled in the State Assembly recently.
It is to mention here that the Government had set-up the JKMSCL to ensure standard drug supply to the state-run hospitals and also maintain a transparency in the purchase of medical equipment. But the entire process had come under scanner, with several drug samples tested by the DFCO found to be “not of standard quality.”
Officials in DFCO said their role in JKMSCL supplies was only supervisory as the corporation was mandated to get each and every batch of medicine procured tested from laboratories accredited by the national accreditation board of laboratories.“But the fact is that in the past a number of cases about substandard drugs have come to fore shows gross lapses in quality control,” an official said.
One of the top officials of the government said that the proper mechanism is in place to check the quality of drugs. (KNS)