Drug trials were in accordance with the law, says DME

Even as the row over unethical drug trails in Indore has failed to die down, the Director, Medical Education (DME) has in a submission to the Madhya Pradesh Human Rights Commission (MPHRC) given a virtual clean chit to the doctors accused in the case.
Appearing before the commission on Friday during a hearing the DME has stated that it had found out that the doctors had not violated any rules and they sought consent from the patients prior to conducting the trials.
Money collected from the multi-national companies (MNCs) was used for medical insurance of the patients, besides, meeting other office expenses and pathological tests.
Similarly, the sponsored foreign trips were meant for carrying out research work.
The DME’s report further pointed out that doctors had conducted the drug trials after seeking permission from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) as well as the ethics committee, which also included representatives from the society.
The report stated that state government is not the authority to investigate into the drug trials row and a letter in this regard has been sent to the union health ministry and the DCGI on February 18 stating that DCGI must investigate and advise action.
DME, principal secretary, IS Dani and other senior officials presented the department’s part in front of the acting chairman of the MPHRC, Justice AK Saxena.
The hearing was on the complaint of Swasthya Samarpan Sewa Samiti in which the allegations of conducting unethical drug trials were levelled on Dr Ashok Vajpayee, Dr Salil Bhargava, Dr Anil Bharani, Dr Pushpa Verma and Dr Apoorva Puranik.
Director of the medical education SC Tiwari told TOI that “We have submitted the findings before the commission. It has been mentioned that the trials in this case were conducted as per rules. Since the state government is not equipped to act on the issue, it has been marked to the union health ministry and DCGI for any further clarification or action”, he added.
Meanwhile, the MPHRC joint director (PR), Rohit Mehta said “The issue of unethical drug trials was heard at National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) as well, besides the MPHRC. The commission here would categorise the nature of complaints in order to avoid hearing of the same issues at two different levels. The action on the report tabled by the DME would be decided after that”, he added.