Sale of fake anti-hypertension drugs alleged; raids continue across Odisha

Bhubaneswar: The Drug Control Administration of Health and Family Welfare department today raided several drugstores in seven districts of Odisha amid allegations of sale of spurious drugs for treating patients with high blood pressure.

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

Taking the issue seriously, officials of Drug Control Administration raided drugstores at 12 places in Cuttack including Manikghosh Bazar, Badambadi, Bankabazar and Mangalabag. The officials have so far seized cartons of aforementioned drugs worth over Rs 30 lakh from various drugstores, sources said.

“The samples of the drugs have been sent for laboratory tests and the drugstores have been directed not to sell the drugs till the arrival of the test reports. Our experts will take at least seven days to conduct the tests and submit the reports,” said an official of the Drug Control Administration.

Sources, meanwhile, claimed that the fake drugs have been sourced from Bihar and Karnataka. “One cannot get the required information regarding the manufacturers, expiry dates and other details while scanning the QR codes of these drugs on the back of the strips,” said a source.

Notably, the Drug Control Administration had seized huge quantities of fake anti-Covid drugs from a trader in Cuttack last year.