Drug testing in state reaches crisis point

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state drugs control department is facing an acute shortage of funds, facilities and staff. The state has just about two labs to test drug samples. The have also the facilities to test 8,000 samples a year while an estimated 2,64,000 batches of different drugs are sold in the state.
The scale of the crisis is such that by the time of the results come out, the entire batches of the drugs could find their way to pharmacies and hospitals and be sold out.
Adding to the mess, the state government has squeezed the finances for the drugs control department to collect the samples from the stores for quality testing.
“The department owes over Rs 12 lakh to various drug stores as payment for the samples collected from them,“ said an official at the drugs control. If the government does not supply adequate funds the department will have to stop collecting the samples, he added.
Shortage of drug inspectors is another problem faced by the department. “The state needs at least 90 drug inspectors and we have only 45. This has badly hit the collection of samples and their testing,“ said the official.
In Thiruvananthapuram, lab has the capacity to test 5,000 samples a year and the one at Kakkanadu, has the facility to test 3,000 samples. However, instead of equipping the existing labs with enough facilities, the government, to the dismay of the department officials, has decided to set up more labs in Thrissur, Pathanmathitta and Kozhikode.
“For the construction of the building alone the government will have to spend about Rs 5 crore and for the equipment another Rs 3 crore. In addition, it has to shell out money on maintenance. If the government had invested that much money in the existing labs we could have increased their capacity,“ said the official.