Odisha: Spurious drugs worth Rs 23 lakh seized in Cuttack

Bhubaneswar: The Drug Control Administration of Health and Family Welfare department of Odisha government claimed to have seized huge quantities of spurious drugs from a trader in Cuttack last month.

The Drug Control Administration seized eleven spurious drugs worth Rs 23, 22, 948 from MH Pharmaceuticals at Nayasarak under Purighat Police limits on November 22 this year, sources said.

The drugs were seized after receiving replies from the manufacturers regarding the authenticity of the medicines, sources said.

These drugs had been kept separately and their sales were stopped immediately. The medicines were procured from outside Odisha, sources added.

The drugs enforcement team of Odisha is in touch with their counterparts in several states including Uttar Pradesh to find out all parties involved in the supply chain of the spurious drugs.

“We have been screening the drugs available in Odisha market continuously. Drugstores have been asked to stop the sales immediately if there is any suspicion on the authenticity of any drug,” said a senior official of the Health department.

Sources, meanwhile, claimed that the drugs enforcement team has seized spurious drugs from Ashok Medical Store at Bargarh in western Odisha. The store owner had procured the medicines from three pharmaceutical firms in Uttar Pradesh.

Health and Family Welfare department Commissioner-cum-Secretary Shalini Pandit, meanwhile, asked the drugs enforcement agencies to intensify screening activities for breaking the supply chain of spurious drugs in Odisha. She also asked the officials to take stringent actions against the people involved in the illegal trade.