Mumbai: In a bid to curb unauthorised sale of medicines, the state Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday raided a Vikhroli-based courier office based on a tip-off and seized medicines worth Rs 4 lakh that had been procured and stocked without proper bills and permissions. The courier office is run by a distributor who allegedly procured medicines from a certain supplier without bills and then stocked and sold them to various doctors and pharmacists, who are now under the FDA scanner. The FDA suspects that the medicines were of inferior quality and are being tested.
Talking to The Asian Age, FDA commissioner Pallavi Darade said, “We suspect these medicines and injections are of inferior quality. Their laboratory tests are underway.”
She further said, “We will also investigate whether they were selling the medicines to fake or genuine doctors. The investigation is underway and will find out how many people are involved in this and from where they used to buy stock in bulk quantities.”
According to FDA sources, the medicines were procured without bills from suppliers in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab while they were sold across Maharashtra.
Yogesh Khadtare, joint commissioner, FDA said, “We received the tip that there are some people who are selling drugs to pharmacies, chemists and doctors without bill.
These suppliers would buy these stocks and sell them without a bill to the doctors, which was illegal. They violated the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, and stern action will be taken against them.”
According to FDA officials, the retailer resorted to the crime in order to save taxes. The medicines were sold and delivered to doctors in courier boxes without a bill via courier services. The stocks of various drugs were found in bulk in the Vikhroli courier office, packed in gunny bags and stored aside.
The law on the drug supply chain outlines that manufacturers, re-packagers, wholesale distributors, dispensers, and third-party logistics providers should maintain a record for everything and keep the FDA in the loop while trading any kind of drug.
