The Rajasthan government has banned the Himachal Pradesh-based Pushkar Pharma from supplying drugs to the State, Health Minister Rajendra Rathore announcing in the Assembly on Wednesday.
This company had supplied wrongly labelled life-saving Meropenem injections to the State last month which were distributed under the government’s free medicine scheme to the patients. Meropenem is a strong antibiotic drug which is used for acute bacterial infection in the lungs, kidney and other vital organs. It is also used for veterinary purpose.
The matter came to light when the warning label which said only for animal use was noticed while a patient was being administered the injection at Mathura Das Mathur Hospital at Jodhpur. It was then realised that the hospital had procured 1000 Meropenem injections and close to 400 had been used in one week. The injections were procured under the Chief Minister’s Free Medicine Scheme and given to patients free of cost.
