VIJAYAWADA:The Krishna district’s Drug Control Authority (DCA) is facing a severe staff shortage with only seven drug inspectors. Due to the manpower shortage, the board is having a difficult time in conducting raids and holds just 30-40 inspections in a month.
DCA intensified its inspections earlier this year after the complaints of counterfeit medicines increased in the district. During the raids from April 2017 to February 2018, the officials busted 64 varieties of counterfeit drugs worth `1.9 crore.
However, the inspections and raids are largely affected by the dearth in manpower. The assistant director of DCA, P Rambabu, told Express: “We are acutely short staffed and there are times when we are not able to keep up with our inspection schedule. However, our performance has been good, which can be better if we have at least 20 drug inspectors.”
The official informed the majority of counterfeit drugs made available in Vijayawada and Guntur regions were from Roorkee and Uttarakhand based companies. “Some of our officials have gone to inspect the drug companies in Roorkee and Uttarakhand and filed a chargesheet against them. We have issued notices to all wholesale dealers to handover fake drugs to the DCA,” Rambabu said. To curtail the counterfeit drug menace, the state government is planning to implement the comprehensive drug monitoring system (CDMS) -- a programme that will facilitate better inventory and keep a tab on drugs supplied in the State.
Curbing fake drug menace
Counterfeit drugs worth J1.9crore were confiscated in raids from April 2017 to February 2018
State is mulling implementation of CDMA, a monitoring system that will keep track of drugs being supplied
The district only has seven drug inspectors when it needs 20, says DCA official
Majority of counterfeit drugs come from companies in Roorkee and Uttarakhand.