Low conviction rate of cases related to fake drugs a concern

The parliamentary standing committee on chemicals and fertilisers has raised concern over the low conviction rate of 5.9% for cases related to manufacturing, selling and distribution of spurious or adulterated drugs in the country. In a recent report, the committee pointed to data on sale of spurious drugs in the open market. It showed that between 2015-16 and 2018-19, of the 230,000 drug samples examined by state drug controllers, 593 were declared spurious and 9,266 were found to be of substandard quality. ET has seen a copy of the report.

"Apparently, only 35 convictions were made in all these cases, amounting to 5.9%," the panel said, adding that the remaining cases are at various stages in courts.

The committee also expressed concern that the conviction rate data is not maintained centrally for penal action for spurious and adulterated drugs. It, therefore, recommended stringent action to be taken in a time-bound manner for exemplary punishments for spurious/adulterated drugs.


The panel also expressed concern that the National Survey of Drugs (2014-16) revealed that 10% of samples from government sources were found to be substandard compared with 3% from private sources, indicating 3.17 times more prevalence of substandard drugs in government channels than in the retail market, which could indicate loopholes in the procurement processes.

The committee found that the department's reply on the higher prevalence of 'not of standard quality' (NSQ) drugs from government sources "did not address" the core reasons regarding the issue. The panel has, therefore, demanded a detailed explanation on the challenges, flaws and enabling factors contributing to the higher prevalence of NSQ drugs from government sources.

The committee also found that the department's response did not outline the measures in place to ensure the quality and integrity of pharmaceutical products throughout all stages of the distribution process, including procurement, purchasing, storage and distribution. On Friday, the health ministry said that in November, central drugs laboratories identified 41 drug samples as NSQ while state drug testing laboratories found 70 drug samples as not meeting quality standards.