spurious was going to end. The police was also touted to pave way for streamlining the medicine procurement and checking the influx of spurious drugs.

But the hysteria created by the state government over the implementation of drug policy in the state fell flat in spite of an aggressive stance by some state lawmakers who wanted the policy to be adopted and implemented. “In absence of any rules and guidelines, the enforcement agencies are unable to curb the sale of the spurious drugs as they feel handicapped to act against the powerful lobby of drug companies and distributors,” a drug inspector working with the government said while pleading anonymity. He said the implementation of policy will give greater powers to enforcement agencies to check the sale and stocking of spurious drugs.

Kashmir Drug PolicyHealth minister Sharma said the state did not have any specific drug policy to control the influx of illegal drugs for the last six decades. “Government has listed 348 drugs for sale in the state, but pharma companies are selling close to 400 varieties of medicines,” he said, ”The new policy will allow monitoring pharma companies that are flooding the state markets with their products without any check.”

Most doctors blame the reluctance of the state government to implement the drug policy as the sole reason behind the menace of spurious drugs. “I share a diagnostic table with those doctors who prefer money over the patient’s health and freely prescribe spurious drugs which aggravate diseases rather than cure them,” said a doctor at SMHS hospital on conditions of anonymity. The drug policy would make it mandatory for doctors to prescribe medicines on the basis of salt name and not on the trade name of a drug manufacturing company.

“Drug policy will be beneficial to the people as doctors will not be able to favor any specific company. They need to specify the salt names. It will also give more powers to the enforcement agencies,” health minister Sharma had said.
Recently, in response to a question by MLA Abdul Majid Wani related to the new drug policy of the state, the government in state assembly said that the implementation of new drug policy was under the consideration of state government. Establishment of pharma zone to ensure proper storage of drugs, availability of medicines by generic names for cost effectiveness and effective system to monitor drug interaction through vigilance and surveillance are some silent features of new drug policy.

Last year, when Drug and Food Control Organization was acting against the chemists not adhering to the provisions of the Drug and Cosmetic Act in full, J&K Chemists and Druggists Association supported the action but said there were no spurious drugs in the valley.

However, sources in the health department reveal that there was a strong nexus between the drug manufacturing companies and doctors which results in the sale of spurious drugs, “Some companies are offering incentives to doctors to sell their sub-standard products. Any doctor found indulging in such activity will lose his license to practise,” the association said.

Off late, the government said special checking posts have been laid at Lakhanpur toll post by the inspector staff comprising of state drug control officers and representation for Central Drug Standard Control Organization where consignments containing medicines being brought into the state are checked.

Meanwhile, in some cases, where the department had set up screening committees to investigate into such cases, the final recommendations of the committees are still awaited. The government had announced cash rewards up to Rs 25 lakh for whistleblowers who could provide information about the identity of people involved in spurious drugs trade. It has been close to two years that the draft for drug policy was prepared, but because of internal bickering within the health department, the final approval is getting delayed. And in absence of a formal drug policy, it is very unlikely that the menace of spurious drugs will end anytime soon.

1 COMMENT

  1. Sir, please request the Health Deptt., to implement drug policy at the earliest. In our State BUMS, doctors are practicing allopathic medicines that too in Government run health centres and hospitals. Drug licences must be given to pharmacy known professionals having at least diploma in Pharmacy as of now majority of licences are matriculates (having very limited knowledge of drugs) and there is already mushroom growth of drug store outlets and majority of chemists are illegally self practicing, the result of which is drug addiction, abuse and drug resistance and serious drug reactions. The law implementing authorities must be empowered to book the culprits involved in trade. This trade is flourishing unchecked and it will have serious repercussions on youth and State economy. It may be said here that our State is having second highest per capita consumption of drugs in our country. It is a fact that there is unchecked growth of drug stores in j & K, it is very unfortunate and expenditure on drugs is huge, since there is huge variations in cost of drugs (same salt) across brands, JAN AUSHUDI DRUG STORES, selling quality cheaper generic drugs of reputed companies be started across all State hospitals, PHCs etc. Prescription audit, prescription analysis, and only evidence based medicines be prescribed by registered medicos only.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here