Joint team seizes govt medicines from NH-26 off Mohana in Odisha

Berhampur: A joint team of medical staff and police on Saturday seized a huge quantity of govt supply medicines found dumped along National Highway 326 on the outskirts of Mohana in Gajapati district.

The medicines, meant for patients, were found lying along a five to seven-km stretch towards Adava.


“The dumped medicines have been seized, some of which are not supplied to Gajapati district. We have lodged an FIR in Mohana police station for inquiry,” said Mohammad Mubarak, chief district medical and family welfare (CDM&FW) officer, Ganjam district. He has sought a report from medical officer, community health centre (CHC), Mohana in this regard. Action would be taken against people involved in the incident, he said.

Jaya Kumar Panda, medical officer, Mohana said they along with police rushed to the spot and seized a huge quantity of medicines. The seized medicines included common medicines like multivitamins, vitamin syrups, antibiotics, gels, cough syrups, some programmed medicines, etc. While most medicines are for govt supply, several are also found in purchased medicines, he added.

Several of the medicines are still within their expiry dates, he said. He said they have found several of the medicines (from their batch numbers) have not been supplied to Gajapati district. He said they have also verified the stock of the medicines in the CHC Mohana and its 33 sub-centres to verify the supply and utilisations. Preliminary probe based on the batch number of the drugs revealed the drugs are not supplied to Gajapati district.

“We will submit an inquiry report to the CDM&FW for further action,” said Panda. The seized medicines are under custody of the police, he said.

Basant Kumar Sethi, inspector in-charge, Mohana police station, said they have registered a station diary and inquired into the identities of people involved in such activities. Health activists raised serious concerns over the incident and called for stringent action against people involved in the incident.






Get an chance to win ₹5000 Amazon Voucher by taking part in India's Biggest Habit Index! Take the survey here