Government moves to act against fake Chinese bulk drugs

In the recent past, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) has detected three instances of imported bulk drugs from unregistered source originating from China at Chennai port, union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said.

Azad said the CDSCO, which is under ministry of health and family welfare, has taken up the issue of bulk drugs from unregistered source coming into the country with Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, the customs and all port authorities in a bid to curb such import into the country under Customs Act.

Among the steps taken by the government to prevent the manufacture and sale of fake drugs in the country Azad said 

He disclosed that the Drugs and Cosmetic Act had been amended vide a Gazette notification dated December 2008, to increase the penalty and punishment for manufacturing spurious drugs, while a committee has been formed in 39th Drugs Consultative Committee (DCC) to look into the problems of spurious drugs in the country.

In order to assess the extent of spurious drugs in the country, a country wide survey has been undertaken by the ministry of health and family welfare through the CDSCO, he added.

Azad sais assistance has been provided to upgrade testing facilities and to establish new drug testing laboratories so as to enhance the capacity of the laboratories to test large number of samples under the capacity building project through World Bank.