Meer Qaizer
In Idaho State, of northwestern United States, Ranbaxy Laboratories had to pay nearly $420,000 to settle civil and criminal complaints of selling drugs of inferior strength, purity or quality. According to reports, Idaho and the other federal states in US had alleged that Ranbaxy products manufactured between April 2003 and September 2010 did not meet US Food and Drug Administration standards. The alleged 26 sub-standard generic drugs were made at Ranbaxy’s factories in Paonta Sahib and Dewas in India. The company agreed to a $500 million settlement with the federal and state governments. The incident like Idaho State had also been happening in our State but the action taken against the Company in Idaho is a distant dream in our land. In Kashmir, spurious drug scam to light when the state’s Drug’s and Food Control Department discovered that Maximizin- 625, an antibiotic that is administered within hours of surgery, was fake. The antibiotic, which was supplied to hospitals in the Valley by a Jammu-based distributor Life Line Pharmaco, contained zero milligrams of Amoxicillin instead of 500 milligrams as claimed by the company. According to an investigation report by drug control department of India state, that a counterfeit version of an antibiotic Maximizen (amoxicillin trihydrate), was supplied to several government hospitals in Srinagar, jeopardizing the lives of many patients. The report said: “The samples failed in the identification test, and the contents of amoxicillin in the samples were found nil.” The scam was in news for some time and the matter is now subjudice. However, the people of Kashmir especially those families who have been victim of fake drugs urge upon the state judicial machinery to assure fair trails. It is also important for our government to tackle the serious issue of sub-standard drugs vigilantly, taking into account the importance of precious lives dependent on quality drugs. The action like in USA against the Company supplying sub-standard drugs would be historic.