Health department finds samples of 9 injectable drugs manufactured in states outside Karnataka to be contaminated

Bengaluru: The state health department has found samples of nine injectable drugs manufactured in states outside Karnataka to be contaminated, yet repeatedly sold in the state. 

This news follows the Ballari maternal deaths case, which the state health department had linked to contaminated IV solution manufactured by Paschim Banga Pharmaceuticals. 

State health minister Dinesh Gundu Rao wrote to the union health minister JP Nadda on Thursday to highlight the repeated instances of sale of such contaminated drugs in the state.

He noted that, between January 1 and February 16, state government laboratories had found nine injectable drugs manufactured in other states had failed drug sterility tests. This is apart from the contaminated IV solution. 

The letter includes Diclofenac Sodium solution, a painkiller, manufactured by Pharma Impex Laboratories, West Bengal, and Metronidazole 100 ml injection, an antibiotic, manufactured by Alpa laboratories, Indore, and IHL Lifesciences, Madhya Pradesh.

“While I am instructing my department to take adequate steps to ensure these drugs are no longer sold within Karnataka, it is highly likely that other contaminated drugs manufactured by these companies are being sold in other states in India,” he wrote.

He requested Nadda to ensure that all products sold by these companies are withdrawn from the market across the country and that these companies are not allowed to sell any more drugs until they are inspected by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO).

He reiterated his earlier request for a standardised, shared system for states to share such alerts about non-standard quality drugs. “In addition, I also request you to create a system for all states and central laboratories to share alerts with each other regarding drugs which have failed quality testing, especially those failures which could potentially cause serious adverse events for patients,” he wrote.

He also emphasised the need for a legal requirement to share sales records from the manufacturers to enable seizure of contaminated drugs from the supply chain before they are dispensed to patients. “We need a system to alert doctors, pharmacists and patients about the drugs which are failing testing in our respective testing laboratories,” he said, adding that the state health department would be glad to assist.