The State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has sought a report from the Health Department on the drugs recommended by the Kerala Medical Service Corporation Ltd. (KMSCL) but deemed ineffective by the Drugs Controller General of India.
The action came as a response to a petition filed by activist Ravi Ullyeri, based on information collected through the RTI Act. In the petition, Mr. Ravi alleged that the KMSCL, which supplied drugs to all health centres in the government sector, was playing second fiddle to some drug companies that were making a tidy profit from the deal. “Out of the 476 drugs collected by the corporation, 408 have been certified as low quality by the drugs controller. Interestingly, the quality check is done only after the drugs are distributed to patients. Though after they are certified unfit, the certificates do not reach the respective centres even after six to eight months of their issue,” Mr. Ravi said.
“As of now, 72 people have died in Kozhikode Government Medical College alone due to this fault with the drugs,” Mr. Ravi said.
