Highlights
Government preparing to crack down on the business of counterfeit drugs
All medicines will come under the ambit by December next year
New Delhi. The government has planned to stop counterfeit and substandard medicines. Now you will soon be able to check that the medicine you have bought is not a fake or not. In fact, to deal with the problem of counterfeit medicines, the government is going to finalize the process of making ‘Bar Code’ mandatory on the packets of 300 medicines by the pharmaceutical companies.
Drugs and Cosmetics Rules will be implemented from May next year
Information like manufacturing license and batch number can be traced by scanning the bar code printed on the packet. After approval, the amendment to the Drugs and Cosmetic Rules, 1945 will come into force from May next year.
An official source told PTI that a large part of the medicines mentioned in the list are such that most of the people buy directly from the shop, due to which there is a possibility of using counterfeit medicines. He said that the purpose of this amendment is to stop the supply of spurious drugs and ensure improvement in public health service.
Bar code or QR code will check whether the medicine is genuine or not
The source said, “Bar code or QR code will be able to prove whether a drug is genuine or not.” The Union Health Ministry had issued a draft notification in this regard in June, seeking comments and feedback from the people.
Process is being finalized
Based on the comments and deliberations, the ministry is in the process of finalizing it. In the first phase, 300 drugs will be covered, which is about 35 per cent of the total market share of the top drug brands and all drugs can be covered by December next year.
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FIRST PUBLISHED : November 05, 2022, 21:42 IST
