Suspected Spurious Drugs Case: Centre orders CBI probe into supply of drugs in Govt Hospitals

New Delhi: The Union Home Ministry ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the supply of substandard medicines in Delhi government hospitals on Friday. Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj welcomed the move and demanded the immediate suspension of the health department's secretary.

With a CBI inquiry being ordered into the supply of substandard medicines in Delhi government hospitals, Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj on Friday said of the "43 samples" collected from three hospitals, only five were declared "not of standard quality". At a press conference in the national capital, he said the official report used many times the terms "NSQ" or "not of standard quality". It is "nowhere mentioned (in the report) that the drugs are fake, counterfeit, poison, spurious".

"You cannot write it officially like that as it wasn't so," he said.

Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj on Friday welcomed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the alleged supply of substandard medicines to Delhi government-run hospitals and demanded the immediate suspension of the health department's secretary. 

The inquiry by the CBI was ordered by the Union home ministry following a recommendation of Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena in this regard. 

Saxena had in December recommended the CBI probe into the supply of drugs that had allegedly "failed quality standard tests" and had the "potential of endangering lives".

Later, the Delhi government's Directorate of Vigilance had wrote to the home ministry, requesting it for the probe.

The Union Home Ministry has ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the alleged supply of substandard medicines in Delhi government hospitals and if the drugs were also distributed through mohalla clinics, sources said on Friday.

The CBI probe was ordered following a recommendation by Delhi Lt Governor VK Saxena in December.

Bharadwaj also sought to blame the BJP on the issue and alleged that the saffron party is "spreading rumours" about these drugs being "fake and spurious" though the medicines were "neither spurious nor fake, they just did not meet some of the standards (of testing)".

The health minister's office later issued a statement in which it alleged that "the BJP is spreading lies about fake medicines in Delhi to influence the upcoming elections".

Responding to the allegations, the BJP's Delhi unit chief Virendra Sachdeva questioned why Bhardwaj "remained silent" although he had claimed to have been aware of the issues related to medicines and pathological tests in March 2023 itself.

Earlier in the day, Bharadwaj welcomed the CBI inquiry into the alleged supply of substandard medicines in Delhi government-run hospitals and demanded the immediate suspension of the health department's secretary.

At his press conference, he sought to allay the "fear" in the minds of crores of citizens of Delhi about the quality of medicines supplied in city government-run hospitals and assured them that the drugs are neither spurious nor counterfeit, as claimed by the BJP.

All medicines were "found to contain genuine salt", there was no other salt or any fake salt, the minister said citing the report.

The test report of medicine samples says it was not of standard quality and the reason for that was cited as dissolution, ie, the time a medicine takes to dissolve in the stomach, the minister told reporters.

"The companies which supply drugs to Delhi government hospitals also supply medicines to hospitals of the central government and other states," Bharadwaj said.

Testing drug samples from time to time is "normal protocol" which is a continuous process and, if a medicine sample doesn't meet standards, the whole "batch of drugs is returned" and payment of the firm is "withheld", the minister said.

Even as per CPA (Central Procurement Agency) data, 12 of 281 samples in 2022-23 and 20 of 651 in 2023-24 were "found to be 'not of standard', and this is a normal practice", Bharadwaj said.

During the press conference at the Delhi Secretariat, he also alleged that the BJP and a "constitutional office" aided in "planting news that these medicines are fake".

"I am not a pharmacist, I am not a doctor. However, when I looked carefully at the test reports of the samples mentioned in the Vigilance department report, which was sent to the CBI, I spoke to many pharmacists, and some private pharmacists, private doctors, and came to know some very surprising things," he said.

The Delhi health minister also mentioned the names of the drugs mentioned in the report -- "pantoprazole gastro-resistant tablets IP 40 mg, amlodipine tablets IP 5 mg, levetiracetam tablets IP 500 mg, cephalexin capsules IP 500 mg, and dexamethasone tablets IP 4 mg".

"It is just like the vicious campaign that was run by some BJP leaders in 2019 that the water of Delhi was 'poisonous' but no BJP leader left Delhi in 2019. Though their relatives and friends seek treatment in these Delhi government hospitals, they are still lying about the medicines supplied there," he said.