168 drug samples failed quality checks in HP in past 3 years, says Health Minister
Dharamshala: In a startling revelation, 168 drug samples have failed quality checks in Himachal Pradesh over the past three years.
Health and Family Planning Minister Dhani Ram Shandil revealed the numbers in a written reply to BJP MLA Vipin Singh Parmar during the Himachal Pradesh Assembly.
The failed samples emerged from more than 12,000 samples collected and sent for testing during the said period.
As per PTI, the health minister said the state has a drug testing laboratory in Baddi, and a joint testing laboratory in Kandaghat in Solan district that tests both drug and food samples.
The Baddi facility, known as the Drug Testing Laboratory Baddi, has been operational since January 8 and is expected to analyse 6,000 samples a year. It received accreditation from the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories on November 12.
Shandil said legal action has been taken against 40 of the 168 industrial units whose samples failed. Administrative action has been taken in 52 cases under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.
He added that investigations are ongoing in 65 cases. In 11 cases, the testing reports have been challenged by the manufacturing units. Of these, seven samples were found to be substandard, while nine reports are still awaited from the Central Diagnostic Laboratory in Kolkata, he said.
The 10-day winter session of the state Assembly began on November 26 and will continue on December 5.
Next Story