‘Govt stores sell substandard drugs’
The likelihood of a consumer getting substandard drug is 3.17 times higher in government supply chain sources than in retail outlets, a government report said.
It cited a need for government procurement agencies to revisit their procurement guidelines.
According to the “Survey of Extent of Problems of Spurious and Not of Standard Quality (NSQ) Drugs in The Country”, conducted by the government recently, the estimated percentage of NSQ drugs from government sources was 10.02% and for spurious drugs it was 0.059%.
During analysis of samples declared NSQ from the government’s supply chain, the report said that civil hospital stores had 11.03 per cent NSQ, state government medical store depots 10.44 per cent NSQ, ESI dispensaries 9.01 per cent NSQ and CGHS dispensaries 4.11 per cent NSQ. The NSQ percentage estimates for retail outlets varied from zero to 8.82 per cent (with the exception of Lakshadweep); Mizoram, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur, Tripura, Puducherry, Gujarat and Punjab were on the higher side of NSQ (4.20 per cent to 8.82 per cent) whereas Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Goa, West Bengal, Delhi, Jharkhand and Kerala were on the lower side of NSQ (zero to 1.97 per cent).
“The fact that the NSQ from government sources are 3.17 times higher than in retail markets highlights that there is something amiss in the existing procurement processes, especially in states where the NSQ is much higher than the national average,” the report said.
None of the samples drawn from airports and sea ports were found to be NSQ or spurious.
Experts state a need for government procurement agencies to revisit their procurement guidelines immediately.