KMSCL to rope in labs to test drugs

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala Medical Services Corporation Ltd (KMSCL) has decided to have its own mechanism to test the drugs that it supplies to government hospitals after purchase from various medical companies. The corporation has decided to empanel certain drug testing labs towards this.
In response to the expression of interest called by the corporation to empanel the labs, so far nine applications have been received.The empanelment would be for two years and the rates for drug testing will be fixed by the corporation after negotiation.
Though the corporation had earlier empanelled some labs for testing the drugs, their tenure had expired in February .Following this, the supplying companies were asked to submit the certificates after tests at accredited labs on the companies' expenses.
Apart from this, the state drugs control department also conducts random tests on drug samples supplied to the hospitals and pharmacies. “We cannot test all the samples supplied by the KMSCL to the hospitals and pharmacies. Our drug inspectors conduct tests on samples collected randomly from the pharmacies,“ said deputy drugs controller Ravi S Menon.
However, there are serious concerns over the transparency of the tests conducted by the labs which are from the private sector. “How far it will be effective is the real concern since all these labs are private ones. The best practice will be that the government should have more laboratories with testing facilities,“ said Menon.
The KMSCL has said that laboratories with approval under the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules of 1945 and Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) with valid NABL accreditation only will be empanelled. “The laboratories should have an industrial experience of a minimum of three years and it should not be a part of any manufacturing unit,“ said a senior KMSCL official.