BENGALURU: Minister of Health and Family Welfare Dinesh Gundu Rao on Thursday launched a dedicated monitoring portal to track Not of Standard Quality (NSQ) medicines in the market and to prevent misuse of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) drugs.
The Minister said the technology-driven system was introduced for the first time in the country to strengthen surveillance of medicines and improve public safety.
Food Safety and Drug Administration (FDA) Department said that NSQ drugs are pharmaceutical products that fail to meet prescribed legal and quality standards and are not permitted for sale and must be recalled from manufacturers and wholesalers.
The department said, around 450 drugs on average are identified as NSQ annually, of which nearly 30 drugs fall under Category A, leading to cases being filed before jurisdictional JMFC courts.
Karnataka has a facility for e-signing of Form-13, the official NSQ report, enabling regulatory authorities to immediately initiate the recall process once a drug is declared substandard. Through this mechanism, NSQ medicines worth Rs 1.85 crore were recalled last year.
To effectively monitor and control the movement of such medicines, the FDA Department has now developed a dedicated portal to track NSQ drug batches available with stockists and retailers. Through the system, identified NSQ batches will be automatically locked, preventing any further sale or transaction of those products.
The portal will also provide real-time information to the department on stock and quantities returned to suppliers. The FDA Department also introduced a separate monitoring mechanism to regulate the sale of NDPS medicines amid growing concerns over their misuse.
Under the new system, retailers dispensing NDPS medicines must mandatorily capture and verify patient details, doctor details and prescription details while selling such medicines. Officials said the initiative aims to ensure responsible dispensing of NDPS drugs, strengthen regulation and safeguard public health.
The department stated that Karnataka is the first state in the country to introduce such an integrated monitoring portal for NSQ and NDPS drugs. Food Safety and Drug Administration Commissioner Srinivas K and other officials were present at the launch event.
