Containing sub-standard medicines
Ensuring
healthcare through production of quality medicine is a very sensitive and a serious issue which in no way should be compromised
The High Court on Wednesday ordered the government to halt production of medicines of some 20 drug manufacturing companies on charges of producing substandard medicines, besides prohibiting 14 more companies from producing antibiotics. Chalking out a long list of companies, the health secretary and the chiefs of the Directorate General of Health Service and Directorate General of Drug Administration have been asked to inform the court by two weeks over the implementation of the order.
The solemn and open move to combat the menace of substandard or low-quality medicines is commendable, but the questions, however, remains whom should we hold responsible for allowing the corrupt pharmaceutical companies to have continued the trade of low grade medicines? Why was there not any monitoring of their manufacturing in the first place? And on top of it, who would ensure justice to those ill-fated consumers of medicines?
Barely a year ago, when the news report revealed how the falsified medicines in Cambodia and Tanzania were causing deaths and increasing the risk of drug resistance, many countries became instantly alert. Not only the disease malaria, but poor quality drugs manufactured there, was the main reason which had become the potent threat to fight the ailment. In our increasingly polluted cities the need for life-saving drugs like antibiotics and its derivatives have shot up manifolds but the medicines cant deliver the expected results any longer.
Ensuring healthcare through production of quality medicine is a very sensitive and a serious issue which in no way should be compromised. Substandard drugs usually contain very low amount of active ingredients due to poor quality control in producing stages or even by inappropriate storage conditions. Whatever the reason be, what were the authorities of the Directorate of Health Service and Drug Administration doing all these years?
Regarding the latest HC order, the health minister is reported to have agreed with the recommendations of the expert committee as identified companies were not playing any significant role in meeting the demand of medicines in the country but the real concern is actually with the top 40 pharmaceutical companies with over 90% market share.
We nevertheless expect the governments health and drug authorities to be more vigilant in terms of rigorous monitoring of our pharmaceutical companies. In the age of growing tech-savvy monitoring within the countries in the developing world two approaches to curb substandard medicines can be considered launching a series of regular blog and social media posts explaining technologies used against sub-standard medicines while introducing software meant to help private pharmacies for tracking orders while monitoring the drug supply chain. It also tracks drug stocks, streamline deliveries and also better anticipate customer orders via a Smartphone.
Medicine sometimes fails to protect life. Sometimes gives it. Our medicines should do the second.
