THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Stating that the government gave much importance to testing of drugs before they are released in the market, Health Minister V S Sivakumar said that legal action will be taken against manufacturers of injection drugs if they are found to be contaminated.
The minister said this while inaugurating the Microbiology lab for testing injection drugs at the Drug testing laboratory here. As part of making the testing of injection drugs foolproof, a microbiology lab for testing injection drugs will be set up at the Regional drug testing lab at Ernakulam. An amount of Rs 1.5 crore has been allotted for this, he added.
Sivakumar said that as many as 100 drugs could be tested at this sophisticated Microbiology lab. Earlier, only 25 drugs could be tested at the laboratory, he added.
Noting that the government had set up a regional drug testing laboratory at Ernakulam as part of enhancing drug testing facilities, he said that three more drug testing laboratories will be set up in the state. The works on setting up the Thrissur lab had already started and the government had already earmarked Rs 5 crore for this, he said. The minister also said that Rs 2.75 crore has been allotted for setting up a lab at Kozhikode.
Drugs Controller P Hariprasad said that the new microbiology lab had all sophisticated equipment which were installed adhering to good laboratory practices.
Deputy Drugs Controller Ravi S Menon and Chief government analyst K C Molykutty were also present.