Health woes: Over 3% drugs in India substandard, says Ministry survey

The  National Institute of Biologicals (NIB), Noida conducted a survey for the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to find out the quality of drugs sold in the Indian markets. The survey revealed that over three per cent of the drugs are substandard in the country.
 

Overall, out of the 47,012 samples tested, 13 samples were found to be spurious and 1,850 samples were found to be ‘Not of Standard Quality’ (NSQ). As such, the percentage of NSQ drugs in India has been found to be 3.16 per cent and that of spurious drugs 0.0245 per cent, a press statement released by the Health Ministry on Wednesday said. 

According to the Health Ministry, many of the drugs are of foreign companies that have their manufacturing units in India, according to an IANS report. 

The study which is the largest ever scientifically designed drug survey undertaken in the world for determining the quality of drugs included, as many as 224 drug molecules belonging to 15 different therapeutic categories of the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM).

For the survey, 47,954 drug samples relating to 23 dosage forms were drawn from 654 districts of the country, including eight airports and sea ports.

All the samples were tested as per pharmacopoeial requirements in the central and state drug testing laboratories that have been accredited by National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL).