The Kashmir Scenario Exclusive
Kashmir is in news once again for all the wrong reasons and it has nothing to do with protests or violence. About two weeks ago, the Doctors Association of Kashmir (DAK) and the Jammu and Kashmir Chemists and Druggists Association demanded the resignation of former state health minister Sham Lal Sharma for flooding the state with fake drugs. DAK demanded Sharma’s resignation from the Assembly and also the resignation of Director Health and head of purchasing immediately.
At a press conference, President DAK, Dr Nisar-ul-Hassan termed the people of Kashmir as ‘most unfortunate’ and said that the drug mafia has started the process to ‘kill the people of state by giving them free poison in shape of drugs namely maximizen (Amoxycillin Trihydrate) manufactured by Affy Parenterals in Solan Himachal Pradesh and marketed by Medlay Labs Mumbai and distributed by Jammu based distributor namely Lifeline Pharmaceutical Traders and Surgical Muthi Jammu.’ ‘There may be many more such drugs lying in the government hospitals which are not yet traced,’ he said. He called for street protests to bring the culprits behind the scam to justice. ‘This is a fight against murderers. I urge the people especially youth to come out on the roads to protest and force these murderers out of the sacred valley,’ he said.
But visible from the discourse is that attempts are being made to put rubble of this mayhem on just few heads , while as the reality is if an impartial enquiry is conducted majority will have to face the brunt.
Not only these negative veracities, but the current mess brought into scanner the efficiency of Jammu& Kashmir Government especially the Health Department.
According to startling facts accessed by The Kashmir Scenario, which can be termed as a brazen shame on the policy of drug procurement by the hospitals and health department, is nothing but a fraudulent procedure. On actual terms it is the “Drug Supplier” who dictates the terms to Health Department and tenders are issued in favour of those by the Hospitals and Health Department who provide medicine at lowest possible cost and no attention is virtually being paid to check the quality of medicine supplied.
One cannot miss the fact that the effect of these fake drugs is detrimental to human health. So far the counterfeit drugs which have been discovered have rarely been efficacious.
Many sane voices are also critical about the fact that majority of doctors accept such regular gifts and largesse through Medical Representatives (MRs) or salesmen of the pharmaceutical companies operating in the state, with the result that patients are often given unbefitting or unnecessarily expensive medicines, including antibiotics.
Dr. Riaz Afsar Hamdani, a veteran medical expert states- “On actual paradigm, we do not have as such any effective drug policy or drug act in the state of Jammu & Kashmir. Anybody can purchase medicine from the market without prescription. Secondly, tragically supply committees in hospitals usually purchase drugs offered at lowest prices rather than giving priority to the overall quality of the medicine. I cannot comment whether doctors accept gifts but if they do it is a brazen violation of medical ethics. The state of Jammu & Kashmir needs overall reforms in the drug sector to curb the menace of fake drugs.”
It is just a tip of ice berg, it is also learnt that the drug testing laboratories in the twin capitals of Srinagar and Jammu exist only for namesake .Shamefully enough, according to reliable sources these drug testing laboratories cannot even test the basic injectable and are existing only for namesake.
Pertinently, many experts are of view that deliberately these Drug Testing Laboratories are kept defunct in order to pave the way for Drug Mafia.
Pertinently, the height of non-seriousness of the Government can be gauged from the fact that even the Drug Policy drafted has drawbacks. Recently drafted drug policy does not lay out the standards of quality that the drugs procured by proposed J&K Medical Sales Corporation have to comply with. Standards of quality and purity of drugs have to be in accordance with Indian Pharmacopoeia, 2010 and National Formulary, 2010.Draft policy just mentions that the drugs will be centrally procured by J&K Medical Sales Corporation and does not specify the policy and procedures of the proposed sales corporation required for tendering, supplier selection, pre-qualification, post-qualification, quality assurance, ordering, payments etc. Thus it is a half-baked policy.
Overall spectrum related to abundance of counterfeit medicines in J & K suggests a clear lawlessness in the drug sector of the state.