There is something amiss in the existing procurement process of the drugs in the Government sector where
Not-of Standard Quality (NSQ) drugs were found to be 3.17 times higher than in the retail, a survey by the Health Ministry has noted.
As per the survey conducted by the National Institute of Biologicals (NIB) on behalf of the Ministry, the estimated percentage of NSQ) was 10.02 per cent and spurious drugs 0.059 per cent in the Government setup compared to 3 per cent and 0.023 per cent respectively in the retail outlets.
Incidentally, none of the samples which were collected from various ports were found to be NSQ or spurious.
The total number of samples tested was 47,012 of which 33,656 were from retail outlets, 8,369 were from government sources and 4,987 were from ports as per the “Survey of Extent of Problems of Spurious and Not of Standard Quality (NSQ) Drugs in The Country” costing `8 crore.
Overall, out of the 47,012 samples tested, 13 samples were found to be spurious and 1,850 samples were found to be NSQ. Percentage-wise, NSQ drugs in India is 3.16 per cent and of spurious drugs is 0.0245 per cent.
Total 1,011 samples out of the 33,656 samples tested from retail outlets were found to be NSQ and 8 samples were found to be spurious.
In comparison, total 839 samples out of the 8,369 samples tested from Government sources were found to be NSQ and 5 samples were found to be spurious.
Samples were drawn from eight ports from 1,708 consignments. 97 per cent of the samples came from Mumbai and Chennai Ports. However, none of the samples were found to be NSQ or spurious.
The survey has also noted that lack of uniform levels of enforcement may be leading to difference in the extent of NSQ in retail outlets and Government supply chain in different States/UTs (union territories).