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The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will inquire into the supply of substandard medicines in three government hospitals run by the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi.
The inquiry was ordered by the Ministry of Home Affairs on Friday, following a recommendation by Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena in December last year. The Delhi LG had flagged a vigilance committee report into irregularities in the supply of certain medicines.
According to the report, 43 samples of drugs were sent to government laboratories, of which three had failed the standards test. These samples were then also sent to private laboratories, where five out of the 43 samples failed the standards test.
Test reports for eleven medicinal samples are still pending with the government labs.
These 43 samples were taken for testing by the state vigilance department from three hospitals managed by the Delhi government, namely Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (LNJP) Hospital, Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences (IHBAS), and Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital.
Addressing a press conference, Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said that while the term ‘not of standard quality’ has been used many times in the vigilance report, it is nowhere mentioned that the drugs are fake, imitation, poisonous, or spurious.
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“The drugs that were found to be of substandard quality include Pantoprazole, which is used to treat gastroenteritis, anti-epilepsy drug Levetiracetam, hypertension medication Amlodipine, steroid Dexamethasone, and Cephalexin, an antibiotic,” he added.
Questioning the basis of giving substandard rating, Bharadwaj said that while the reason for NSQ rating has been mentioned as failed dissolution tests, the salt in the drugs fell well within the specified range.
The minister also alleged bias, saying that these drugs have been procured by all state governments in India and that only Delhi hospitals are being singled out for having substandard drugs.
The vigilance department report also highlighted the need to investigate if the substandard medicines were distributed through the Mohalla Clinics. "It also needs to be investigated whether the same drugs which have been procured by the Central Procurement Agency (CPA) are also being distributed to the patients through the Mohalla Clinics or not," the communication stated.
