Odisha is seemingly sitting on explosive fake medicine enormity having the potential to rip off State’s vulnerable health system. The reality looks quite disturbing with two drugs testing substandard in every 100 samples tested in the State. The national average is around five per 100 test samples. What is worrying is the low conviction rate in the State despite setting up of over five special courts to try substandard/spurious drug cases.
Sample this. Saddled with over 380 cases, the Government set up special courts in the year 2013. But last year, the case load increased to around 500 putting Odisha among the top-five States with high burden of pending fake/substandard drug prosecutions in the country. With conviction in five cases only, State stands poorly even among the top-five dubious States nationally. Sources attributed the delay primarily to non-functional of intelligence-cum-legal cell in the office of the Drug Controller.
Inadequate positioning of drug inspectors with the Controller of Drugs also plays havoc. With around 18,000 retail units across the State, as many as 180 drug inspectors are required to carry out wide sample testing across the State, especially the vulnerable districts like Balangir, Kalahandi, Koraput and Malkangiri, among others. But the drug inspectors in position are only one-third of the actual requirement.
It is worth mentioning that the Odisha High Court in 2008 had directed the State to increase intake of drug inspectors so as to deploy them at vulnerable borders to prevent the burgeoning fake drug transportation racket afflicting the State then. The HC in its judgement had also directed the State to augment facilities in the State Drug Testing laboratory. But as per a report by Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDCSO), the State lab doesn’t have the capacity to test all categories of drugs.
Sources in State Pharmacist Association point out that though the State has around 250 drug manufacturing units, Odisha market mostly meets its requirement with bulk of drugs supplied from Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Indore and the CDCSO recent study marked out these States as producer of substandard drugs in a big way. The CDCSO therefore observed the need to augment intelligence wing of Drug Controller in States like Odisha and Chhattisgarh to combat the growing menace.
The adverse implication on State’s health system is very well indicated by the January, 2015 drug alert by the CDCSO where it declared widely used antibiotic drugs with constituents like Amoxycillin and Rifampicin in the market as substandard. The catch is with Rifampicin formulations being administered as anti TB drug could have grave ramifications on the State that still has a large TB load.
State Health Minister Atanu Sabyasachi, however, explained that his department is fully aware of the growing menace of fake drugs and is working on a contingency plan to plug the loopholes as the Centre has announced a large-scale sample testing of drugs this year partnering with State agencies. He informed that under the National Health Mission Umbrella the State will receive more allocation in the 12th Plan and the State will contribute its matching share to augment the State Drug Testing lab. The Government is also mulling strategies including increasing drug inspector cadre, technical staff and launching mobile testing lab very soon so as to increase the sample load for testing, he added.