THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Drugs worth Rs 2.91 crore supplied by various companies to the Kerala Medical Services Corporation (KMSCL) were found to be of substandard quality during a random checking of samples. More worryingly, some batches of these drugs have already been administered to patients.
The Kerala Medical Services Corporation purchases generic drugs for supplying them to government hospitals which distribute them free to people.
The drugs which were found to be of poor quality were purchased in the last financial year and have been distributed to various hospitals in the state. Although they have been recalled some of the batches have already been distributed to the public.
"Most of the drugs are now stocked at the godown of the corporation. The companies have been asked to recall the drugs and also to pay a compensation to the corporation," said a senior official of the KMSCL. "If they do not recall the drugs then the KMSCL would seek the government's permission to destroy them," he added.
Though the KMSCL purchases the drugs after quality checks at accredited labs not every batch is tested.
"This is not the first time that substandard drugs have been distributed to patients. Unless we put in place better quality assurance tests such incidents will occur again," said Dr A K Rauf, state secretary of the Kerala Government Medical Officers Association. "There is no point in testing the drugs after they are supplied to the hospitals. At many instances the drugs are declared substandard after they are distributed through pharmacies," he added.
Lack of enough testing facilities is one major cause of concern for the KMSCL. Though the government had announced the opening of regional drug testing labs in the state only Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram have such labs. "The two labs do not have the capacity to test such a huge load of drugs. In every district there should be a testing facility," said Dr Rauf.
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