NEW DELHI: Over 10 per cent of drugs in the Government supply chain were found to be ‘Not of Standard Quality’ (NSQ), three times higher than substandard drugs found in retail outlets, a Health Ministry survey has found.
Claimed by the ministry to be the largest ever survey in the world to determine the quality of drugs, it found the estimated percentage of NSQ drugs from samples taken from retail outlets across the country was just three per cent while 0.023 per cent were found to be spurious.
Following this, the autonomous body under the Health Ministry which conducted the survey has recommended that the Government procurement agencies should “revisit” their procurement guidelines with respect to criteria for qualifying the manufacturers.
The extent of NSQ and spurious drugs for both retail outlets as well as Government sources in the country together was estimated to be 3.16 per cent and 0.0245 per cent respectively, the survey found.
The statistical design of the drug survey included as many as 224 drug molecules belonging to 15 different therapeutic categories of the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) 2011.
As part of the survey, 47,954 drug samples relating to 23 dosage forms were drawn from 654 districts of 36 states and UTs from supply chains including retail outlets, Government sources and from eight airports and seaports, an official statement said. (AGENCIES)
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