Odisha CM orders crime branch probe into fake Covid medicine seizure

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday ordered an inquiry by the state police Crime Branch inquiry into the circulation of alleged spurious Covid-19 medicines in the state, an official said.

Patnaik issued the direction after the State Drugs Controller confirmed that Favipiravir tablets, an anti-viral medication used in treating coronavirus patients, which were recovered from a medicine store in Cuttack, were fake.

Earlier, Health and Family Welfare Department's Additional Chief Secretary PK Mohapatra issued a direction to the Odisha State Medical Corporation Ltd and the police to launch a joint inquiry into the seizure of alleged spurious drugs.

A special team comprising officials of the health department and police has raided various places in 14 districts and recovered a large number of medicines used in treating Covid-19, which are suspected to be spurious.

"We have seized nine drugs from a medicine store in Cuttack. While the Favipiravir tablets were found to be fake, reports on the other medicines are awaited," State Drugs Controller Ananda Prasad Das told reporters. Following the recovery of the drugs from the Cuttack drug shop on June 10, seizures were also made in places such as Bolangir, Jharsuguda, Sambalpur, Rourkela, Kalahandi and Bhubaneswar, a senior official said.

The Odisha government launched the raids following a tip-off from the Food and Drugs Administration, Maharashtra, on spurious Favipiravir tablets allegedly manufactured by a company in Himachal Pradesh. However, a probe has revealed that the company does not exist in the north Indian state.

Altogether 58,000 Favipiravir tablets were purchased by a company in Cuttack from an entity located at Gautam Budh Nagar in Uttar Pradesh.

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Of those tablets, the Cuttack-based buyer supplied 40,600 tablets to another entity in Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh, the official said.

Of the available stock of 17,400 tablets, 400 were taken for statutory testing and the remaining ones were seized under the provision of the Drugs & Cosmetics Act and Rules.

The Odisha government has also informed the authorities of Madhya Pradesh about the supply details of the tablets to Gwalior, the official said.

Nine other drugs allegedly manufactured by the same entity have also been purchased by the Cuttack-based firm. To ascertain the authenticity of these drugs and assess their quality, their samples were taken and the stocks seized.