The Hindu: Kozhikode: Thursday, April 10, 2025.
The Drugs Control department in Kerala checked 5,578 random samples from medical shops across the State in 2024. RTI filed by Anil Kumar, convener, CAPSULE Kerala, a wing of the Kerala Sasthra Sahitya Parishad
The Drugs Control department
in Kerala checked 5,578 random samples from medical shops across the State in
2024, of which 132 were found to be of substandard quality (2.36%).
Of the 164 sample tested from Jan Aushadhi Kendras, seven were found to be of low quality (4.2%). No fake drugs were seized.
These were revealed in responses from the district offices of the department to queries filed under the Right to Information Act by M.P. Anil Kumar, convener, CAPSULE Kerala, a wing of the Kerala Sasthra Sahitya Parishad.
The highest number of samples from medical stores tested and found to be of low quality was in Kannur, 937 and 31 respectively. The corresponding figures for Ernakulam, Thrissur, Alappuzha, and Kottayam were 869 and 23, 868 and 14, 618 and 14, and 381 and 17 respectively. None of the 205 drug samples in Wayanad was of poor quality. Data were not available for Kollam, Idukki, Malappuram and Kozhikode districts.
Among the Jan Aushadhi Kendras, the highest of 28 samples were tested in Kannur and three of them were found to be of substandard quality. Two of the 11 samples tested in Palakkad were of poor quality. None of the samples tested was of low quality in Kottayam, Wayanad, Thiruvananthapuram, Kasaragod, and Pathanamthitta.
CAPSULE functionaries said on Wednesday that the queries were raised in view of the debates over the quality of medicines being sold through retail medical stores.
There had been concerns over those sold through the Jan Aushadhi stores, the Union government-supported outlets where generic medicines are sold at affordable prices. Government agencies are supposed to collect samples from medical stores regularly and subject them to quality tests, they added.
The Drugs Control department in Kerala checked 5,578 random samples from medical shops across the State in 2024. RTI filed by Anil Kumar, convener, CAPSULE Kerala, a wing of the Kerala Sasthra Sahitya Parishad
Of the 164 sample tested from Jan Aushadhi Kendras, seven were found to be of low quality (4.2%). No fake drugs were seized.
These were revealed in responses from the district offices of the department to queries filed under the Right to Information Act by M.P. Anil Kumar, convener, CAPSULE Kerala, a wing of the Kerala Sasthra Sahitya Parishad.
The highest number of samples from medical stores tested and found to be of low quality was in Kannur, 937 and 31 respectively. The corresponding figures for Ernakulam, Thrissur, Alappuzha, and Kottayam were 869 and 23, 868 and 14, 618 and 14, and 381 and 17 respectively. None of the 205 drug samples in Wayanad was of poor quality. Data were not available for Kollam, Idukki, Malappuram and Kozhikode districts.
Among the Jan Aushadhi Kendras, the highest of 28 samples were tested in Kannur and three of them were found to be of substandard quality. Two of the 11 samples tested in Palakkad were of poor quality. None of the samples tested was of low quality in Kottayam, Wayanad, Thiruvananthapuram, Kasaragod, and Pathanamthitta.
CAPSULE functionaries said on Wednesday that the queries were raised in view of the debates over the quality of medicines being sold through retail medical stores.
There had been concerns over those sold through the Jan Aushadhi stores, the Union government-supported outlets where generic medicines are sold at affordable prices. Government agencies are supposed to collect samples from medical stores regularly and subject them to quality tests, they added.
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