FSDA will crack whip on pharmacies to ensure proper storage of drugs

LUCKNOW: The Food Safety and Drug Administration (FSDA) will soon start a campaign against pharmacies that are flouting norms by not storing medicines properly.

Assistant drug controller Anup Kumar said safety of consumers was of utmost importance and therefore all steps would be taken to ensure proper storage of drugs in medical stores.

He said the de par tment would lay emphasis on checking cold chain storages to ensure that vaccines were being stored at the right temperature.

“Some medicines that are required to be stored at a specific temperature and we will make sure that medical stores are following these guidelines,” he said.

Officials would also closely monitor that vaccines and insulin are being stored in ice packs and that dates of manufacture and expiration are clearly printed on covers of all medicines being sold at pharmacies.”

There are over 2,100 medical stores in the city dispensing drugs to over 30 lakh people of Lucknow. All these shops would be inspected during the next two months.

“If medicines are distributed by untrained people and are kept at temperatures unsuitable for their storage, then there is a possibility of medicines losing their efficacy or even spoiling its chemical formula, thus harming patients,” assistant commissioner drugs Anup Kumar said.