Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has said that India has a zero-tolerance policy on spurious medicines. The statement comes few hours after World Health Organization flagged seven made-in-India cough syrups in its probe. The decision is linked to supply of contaminated cough syrups across the world. “We are the pharmacy of the world and we want to assure everyone that we are the ‘quality pharmacy of the world’,” the Health Minister said. He has also asserted that an extensive risk-based analysis is underway to ensure the quality of medicines made in India.
Cough Syrup Row
Earlier this year Indian made cough syrups were allegedly linked to the deaths of 66 children in Gambia and 18 children in Uzbekistan. In February Tamil Nadu-based Global Pharma Healthcare had to recall its entire lot of eyedrops. “We need to get into facts whenever some questions are raised about Indian medicines. For example, in Gambia, it was said that 49 children have died. Someone at WHO had said it and we wrote to them asking what the facts are. No one got back to us with the facts,” Mandaviya said. From June 1, India has made tests mandatory for cough syrups before they are exported. Cough syrup exporters will have to produce a certificate of analysis issued by a government laboratory before it is exported, effective June 1, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said in a notification last month.
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71 Firms issued notice
The health minister told PTI that the regulators and government continuously conduct extensive risk-based analysis to guarantee that production quality of medicines produced in the country maintain reliability. The minister has revealed that show-cause notices have been issued to 71 companies and out of these firms, 18 are to cease their operations entirely. Mandaviya said, “We have conducted risk-based analysis at more than 125 companies and our squads have visited their facilities. Of these, 71 companies have been served show-cause notices and 18 have been given closure notices.”
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