Karnataka Health and Family Welfare Minister UT Khader has said that the manufacture and sale of counterfeit medicines should attract stringent criminal action, including charges of attempt-to-murder or murder, instead of only licence cancellation or fines.
Speaking to reporters in Mangaluru on Tuesday, September 15, Khadar said the existing penalties for offences involving counterfeit medicines were inadequate. He said offenders could otherwise have their licences cancelled or pay fines before shifting operations to another place and registering a new business in a family member’s name.
“Those running such mafias and playing with people’s lives must be prosecuted under stringent criminal provisions,” he said.
Khader said he would urge the Union government to amend the law to bring such offences under stringent criminal provisions, including attempt to murder or murder, given the potential risk to human lives.
The Health Department has ordered the immediate recall and withdrawal of the suspected counterfeit batches from hospitals and medical shops. Khader said access linked to the suspected network had also been blocked on the department’s online portal to prevent billing and sale of the medicines across the state.
He also said the government was exploring the establishment of a high-end drug-testing laboratory, either independently or in partnership with an existing accredited laboratory. The facility would enable random testing of medicines collected from manufacturing units, hospitals and pharmacies.
A system of surprise inspections is also being considered, under which Drugs Control officials would collect random samples from pharmaceutical factories, hospitals and medical shops and send them for testing.
Khader said the state government was considering handing over the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for a comprehensive probe. He also said he had written to the Union Health Minister detailing the suspected manufacturing of counterfeit medicine and seeking the deployment of Central Drugs Surveillance officers to assist with the investigation.
The case relates to the seizure of counterfeit medicines worth more than Rs 5 crore near Bidadi in Bengaluru South district (formerly Ramanagara). Preliminary investigations by multiple agencies indicated that the medicines, including antibiotics, were allegedly manufactured in other states before being brought to Karnataka and distributed locally and elsewhere in the country.
“Karnataka was the first to detect this racket involving fake medicines being sold under original labels, valued at over Rs 5 crore recently. Immediately after detection, our initial investigation revealed that the medicines were manufactured in other states and supplied here. This means it was not limited to Ramanagara and had inter-state links,” he said.
Calling the incident an “eye-opener”, Khader said the SIT’s investigation would establish the full extent of the network. “We will not spare anyone involved,” he said.
The SIT has arrested several with the latest being Pharmacy owner Veeresh Kumar Jain, proprietor of Krupa Health Care and suspected to be a key accused. He was arrested after the SIT raided his unit near Minerva Circle in Bengaluru last week.
Another suspect, R Prashant, is currently in Azerbaijan.
Khadar also sought to allay concerns over social media posts claiming that counterfeit medicines had been supplied to hospitals, saying steps had been taken to withdraw the batches and prevent their further sale.