3 booked for supply of spurious medicines to MBMC hospital

The case raises serious questions on the quality of drugs being administered to patients at public hospitals

The Thane unit of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has registered an FIR against three pharmaceutical dealers for supplying spurious and substandard medicines to the civic-run hospital in Mira Road and endangering the lives of patients.

The FDA had randomly collected samples of some medicines from the stores of the hospital run by the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) and sent them for lab testing in Mumbai. The test reports of the medicines that were prescribed to treat various bacterial infections and diarrhea turned out to be spurious and substandard.

The FDA communicated with MBMC’s health department and sourced the name of the supplier in Bhayandar and the chain of Indore-based distributors. However, the address (printed on the labels) of the actual pharmaceutical making company in Himachal Pradesh turned out to be non-existent. The case has raised a serious question mark on the quality of drugs being administered and distributed to patients from the counters of public hospitals. The Navghar police are conducting further investigations in the case.

“We have cooperated with the FDA and also sent letters to the concerned suppliers intimating them about the spurious supply. Such serious lapses will not be tolerated. Necessary action will be taken in this regard,” said a senior health officer. Acting on a complaint filed by FDA inspector Kishore Rajane, the police booked two Indorebased distributors and a local supplier under the relevant sections of the Drugs & Cosmetics Act, 1940, and various sections of the Indian Penal Code. However, no arrests have been made so far.