7 companies blacklisted in Tamil nadu for poor quality drugs

The Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation (TNMSC) has blacklisted seven manufacturing firms in the last one year for producing substandard drugs and products. Around 38 brands of drugs and devices made by these firms were banned after quality control checks found them to be below par.The blacklisted products include ointments used as antiseptics, syrups, tablets including antibiotics and vitamins and contaminated syringes and needles, said a TNMSC official. “Some of these drugs could cause severe side-effects such as drug resistance and death. But none of them reached hospitals. We found them to be substandard when they were still in the warehouses,” he added.

The firms supplying blacklisted products to the corporation were blacklisted for two years. The corporation would also not make purchases from firms blacklisted for producing spurious drugs for five years and from firms that had failed to execute the purchase order for two years, said officials, adding that the blacklisted manufacturers could not supply medicines during this period in any part of the country.

TNMSC, which is in charge of procuring medicines and equipment for all government hospitals and clinics, buys more than 300 types of essential drugs for human and animal use. The corporation procures generic drugs from the manufacturers finalised during the tender process. These are supplied to government hospitals and veterinary units across the state.

“Drugs are never released without quality checks even when there is a dire need or shortage. We also coordinate and plan in advance to avoid shortages,” said TNMSC managing director P Umanath. The samples are randomly chosen from one-third of the boxes from each batch of medicines, he said. These are sent for testing after the labels are removed. “It’s a double blind test to prevent bias,” he said.

To ensure that the drugs are effective till the date of expiry, tests are done once in six months, he said, adding that several manufacturers and brands of drugs are rejected during the tender process after inspections.