The Karnataka government is set to introduce a drug recall policy to prevent the supply of substandard and expired medicines to government healthcare institutions, Health and Family Welfare Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao announced in the Legislative Council on Monday, March 10.
Responding to a query from BJP MLC Talwar Sabanna, the Health Minister said that the government is taking proactive steps to ensure that low-quality or expired drugs do not enter the state’s healthcare system.
These changes come in the wake of the deaths of women in Ballari district last year, allegedly caused by the use of contaminated IV fluid Ringer’s Lactate, which is used to keep surgery patients hydrated.
To curb such incidents, the government plans to introduce a drug recall policy and carry out checks of the laboratories and warehouses of suppliers who bid for government contracts, and make inspection of manufacturing facilities mandatory. The Minister said that the state government had reached out to the Union government and the Drug Controller General of India regarding this.
He also said that the government would change the testing and procurement policy to ensure that drugs were tested before being distributed to public health institutions. At present, drugs are tested after they have already been distributed to state-run health institutions.