Anyone found supplying fake drugs will be punished: J-K min

In the wake of the public outrage over the sale of sub-standard medicines in the state, the Jammu and Kashmir government today warned that anyone found involved in supplying fake drugs would be dealt with stringent action.
"Anyone found involved in heinous crime for supplying of fake drugs or low standard diagnostic equipment's or negligence in delivering patient care in the health institutions would be dealt with stringent action and be booked behind bars under the law," Health minister Shabir Ahmad Khan said during a high-level officers meeting of Drug Organisation and Health Department here.
"Providing quality health care facilities to the people of the state was the top most priority of the government and nobody would be allowed to play with the lives of the people," he said.

The minister added that the drug testing laboratories at the Srinagar and Jammu would be upgraded this year.
Besides installation of modern drug testing equipments, qualified drug analysts would be posted to speed up process in these laboratories, he said.
Khan said that a rapid alert system would be initiated to check further consumption of sub-standard or counterfeit drugs and added that an intelligence cum legal cell would be set-up in the Drug and Food Organisation to tackle the menace.
On April 5, the state government had blacklisted Life Line Pharmaco Surgical Ltd and cancelled its drug licence for supplying sub-standard antibiotic medicines meant for government hospitals.