Massive Irregularities Detected in Raids by Drug Inspection Wing
Sultana said inspections also found instances of sales without bills, irregularities in maintaining registers and faults in refrigeration systems in some blood banks.
Kakinada: Traders are not enthused by the series of raids conducted by drug inspector Parveena Sultana on medical establishments in Kakinada over the past eight months that detected large-scale rule violations.
Sultana carried out inspections in about 340 medical shops, hospitals, blood banks and other medical establishments. Her teams of officials examined GST bills, stock registers and other records.
Following this, the licences of 40 shops were suspended on various counts of violations. Show cause notices were issued to nearly 50 establishments.
According to the drug inspector, inspections revealed illegal sale of certain narcotic and restricted drugs without prescriptions from qualified doctors. Medicines such as Alprazolam, Tramadol, Clonazepam and Escitalopram fall under narcotic drug regulations, while Misoprostol and Mifepristone are abortion-related drugs that must be dispensed only on a doctor’s prescription.
Sultana said inspections also found instances of sales without bills, irregularities in maintaining registers and faults in refrigeration systems in some blood banks. Some medical shops continued to sell medicines at old maximum retail prices despite reductions following GST revisions.
Following the detection of irregularities, licence suspensions were imposed depending on the nature of violations; and these ranged from one day to several days, after which the establishments were allowed to resume their operations.
The Kakinada chemists and druggists association staged protests alleging that the official demanded bribes ranging from Rs.50,000 to Rs.5 lakh and threatened medical establishments with licence suspension and other punitive steps.
