The intelligence wing of the Directorate of Drug Control in Tamil Nadu has been asked to investigate how expired drugs made their way to medical shops.
Drug control officials have been asked to coordinate with police authorities in their investigation into the inter-State racket in procuring expired drugs.
V. K. Subburaj, Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare Department, told The Hindu here on Saturday that the procedures with regard to destroying expired drugs would also be streamlined.
“The department will come out with a mechanism to prevent recycling of expired drugs. Raids will be carried out across the State and the Health Department will coordinate with the police,” he said.
Stating that the surveillance of drugs, particularly in the retail side, would be strengthened, the Health Secretary said that more steps were being taken at the level of Directorate of Drug Control.
The State government would recruit 25 more drug inspectors through the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission in about three or four months, Mr. Subburaj said.
According to him, the investigation requires focus on how to prevent spurious drugs from entering medical shops and a concerted strategy was essential for syrups, capsules, strips and solutions. “We think that the problem of expiry date is only with costly medicines. We will see it in all aspects during our raids,” he said.
Mr. Subburaj felt that strict regulations in drug control were required in the context of increasing number of retail medical shops/pharmacies in the State.
“There are about 42,000 medical shops in Tamil Nadu. It is a good sign that people have easy access to medicines but it is also a challenge when it comes to implementing the regulations,” he opined.
According to the Health Secretary, one important step that had been taken was to have a person appointed as regular Director of Drug Control.
“For nearly 10 years in the State, the Director of Drug Control was on an in-charge basis. A few months ago the Director was appointed,” he said.
