BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha State Medical Corporation Limited (OSMCL) on Friday blacklisted one company and served show-cause notice to another after they were found to be supplying sub-standard parenteral.
While Swaroop Pharmaceuticals Pvt Ltd was blacklisted for three years, action has been initiated for blacklisting of IVES Drugs India Pvt Ltd. IVES Drugs has been asked to explain why it should not be blacklisted too.
The action came in the wake of a report titled ‘Sub-standard saline bottles supplied to govt hospitals, SCB stock freezed’ published in The New Indian Express on Friday. Health department sources said the stern action against Swaroop Pharmaceuticals was taken after three batches of its Ringer’s Lactate saline were found Not of Standard Quality (NSQ).
“On receipt of adverse drug reaction report from the health facilities and basing on the report from the Central Drug Laboratory (CDL), the item Ringer’s Lactate of Swaroop Pharmaceuticals Pvt Ltd has been blacklisted for a period of three years,” the department said in a tweet.
Stating that OSMCL is regularly procuring large volumes of parenteral for government health facilities across Odisha and drugs are made active following stringent quality testing procedure, the department said action has been initiated for blacklisting IVES Drugs India Pvt Ltd for the same item.
Sources said the saline bottles procured from these firms were supplied to several hospitals, including SCB Medical College and Hospital. Of the 5,000 bottles in that batch, no adverse report for the rest 4,000 has come which points at discrepancy at the hospital level.
As per standard procedure, after dispatches reach warehouses of the hospitals, auto-codification is done and the items selected randomly sent to NaBL accredited laboratories for testing. “The hospitals are intimated to use the items once the laboratories certify the products. In this case, the saline bottles were sent for testing and the hospitals initiated to use as there was no adverse report. There was also no report of any adverse reaction from others patients who used the same batch of saline in other parts of the State,” sources in Health Department said .
The official said there must be flocculation in saline bottles for which drugs inspector concerned reported it after SCB MCH superintendent flagged the issue and sent the samples to CDL at Kolkata for testing. “Nursing staff who administer the salines are supposed to notice such discrepancy and not use the same if they find flocculation,” sources added.
Sources also point out that storage conditions as well as other associated factors such as usage other drugs and administration efficiency by paramedic staff can also lead to problems and these matters must be investigated at the health facility level. Blacklisted for three years means no State will procure the item from the firm.
