Odisha seeks Bihar help to bust fake anti-hypertension drugs racket

Bhubaneswar: The Health and Family Welfare Department of Odisha has written to its counterpart in Bihar seeking cooperation for investigation into the spurious anti-hypertension drugs trade.

Senior IAS officer Nikunja Bihari Dhal on behalf of the Health and Family Welfare Department of Odisha has written to Bihar Health Department Additional Chief Secretary Pratyaya Amrit in connection with the fake drugs trade.

Dhal has urged Amrit to extend cooperation to a four-member special team of Odisha which has been deputed to Bihar to probe the spurious drugs case.

Earlier, there were reports that medicine wholesalers VR Drug Agencies and Puja Enterprises of Cuttack had procured the fake drugs for treatment of high blood pressure from Gaya in Bihar and Bangalore in Karnataka.

According to Dhal, the Health Department had earlier written to the Drugs Controller of Bihar seeking information on the fake high blood pressure medicines seized from Odisha. However, there was no feedback from the Drugs Controller of Bihar.

Notably, the Drug Control Administration of Odisha had raided several drugstores in Cuttack, Bhubaneswar and other places amid reports of sale of spurious drugs for treatment high blood pressure.

As per the allegations, counterfeit drugs in the brand names of popular anti-hypertension drugs—Telma-40 and Telma-AM—had been sent to around 1,000 drugstores in Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Balasore and several other places in the state.

Subsequently, the Directorate of Drugs Control Odisha had directed immediate recall of the two particular drugs from the market.

Pharmaceutical major Glenmark has clarified that it had not manufactured the anti-hypertension drugs—Telma-40 and Telma-AM—seized from several drugstores in Odisha.

The Commissionerate Police had arrested two persons—Sanjay Jalan and Rahul Kyal—in connection with the spurious drugs trade.