Following the detection of substandard Azithromycin antibiotics in Andhra Pradesh recently, the state's Drugs Control Administration (DCA) has dispatched a team of officials to Chandigarh as the wholesaler who supplied those drugs are located there. "The substandard drugs we received came through a wholesaler located in Chandigarh. So the investigation is happening in Chandigarh now," a DCA official told IANS on Monday.
The team has been fortified with the addition of an inspector from the Drugs Controller General of India (DGCI) and also officials from the relevant drugs control department in Punjab. "After completing its probe in Chandigarh, the team will visit Uttarakhand as well," the official said, as the manufacturer is believed to be located there.
Meanwhile, the DCA conducted an awareness programme for medicine wholesalers in all the 13 districts of the southern state on Monday.
In each district, the DCA assistant director and his team members conducted the programme to educate the wholesalers as to where they are procuring the medicines from and if the sellers had a licence.
"We told them that they have to check if the product has a licence and the company has a licence. The wholesale buyers have to verify all these details and only then they should buy the medicines," said the official.
The official shared two phone numbers, 0863-2330909 and 0863-2339246, to call and alert the department if they stumble upon spurious drugs. An email address has also been provided for the purpose — dca-grams@ap.gov.in.
Recently, the DCA seized different strengths and combinations of substandard manufactured antibiotic Azithromycin from Rajahmundry, Bhimavaram and Vijayawada, prompting the department to launch a hunt to identify the culprits. At the time, all the stocks of the faulty antibiotic existing with the distributors and retailers were recalled and seized.