Spurious drugs worth ₹26 lakh seized in Amritsar, Tarn Taran

FOLLOWING THE RECOVERY OF THESE DRUGS, THE FDA HAS CANCELLED LICENSES OF THREE FIRMS IN BOTH THE BORDER DISTRICTS

AMRITSAR : The food and drug administration (FDA), Amritsar and Tarn Taran districts, has seized spurious drugs worth over ₹26 lakh in July this year.

Following the recovery of these drugs, the FDA has cancelled licenses of three firms in both the border districts. Besides, the licenses of around 19 firms have also been suspended and these firms now cannot sell or purchase medicines till the completion of the investigation.

The FDA swung into action in July after a spate in drug-related deaths in various parts of the state in June. The authorities say they have intensified the drive against spurious medicines after the launch of Mission Tandarust Punjab in June.

Zonal Licensing Authority (drugs) Kulwinder Singh said: “In July, we inspected 118 drug firms, 73 in Amritsar and 45 in Tarn Taran district, and recovered drugs worth ₹24.64 lakh from Amritsar and ₹1,61 lakh from Tarn Taran.”

He said: “We have cancelled licenses of three chemist firms — Will Marks Pharmaceutical (in Amritsar), HL Medicos of Harike and New Gill Medical Store of Patti (in Tarn Taran). We have also put the licenses of 19 firms — 10 in Amritsar and 9 in Tarn Taran — under suspension as they didn’t show their sale purchase record of medicines.”

“In July, we took samples of various medicines from 38 chemist shops —19 in Amritsar and 17 in Tarn Taran,” he said.

“We have sent these samples for laboratory test as we suspect these to be spurious,” he said, adding four teams under the supervisions of each drug inspector, Sukhdeep Singh, Bableen Kaur, Ramneek Singh and Amarpal Singh, have been working to conduct back-to-back raids on chemist firms for the proper implementation of Mission Tandarust Punjab while a team under the supervision of drug inspector Gurpreet Singh has been working in Tarn Taran.”