Government raids have exposed the continuing sale of banned drugs such as Rosiglitazone, Gatifloxacin and Tegaserod in hospitals and stores in Delhi.
In a statement, the Office of Drugs Controller General of India said the raids were conducted in 130 hospitals and medical stores — without specifying the names of the Hospitals. Alarmingly, in more than 65% (85 shops), the team found prohibited drugs with serious side effects being offered for sale.
Rosiglitazone, a drug used to relieve diabetes, has been found to increase the risk of heart disease by upto 43% while Gatifloxacin, an anti-biotic, was banned after being linked to serious diabetes, liver damage, causing hallucinations etc.. Tegaserod, which was also found, is used to treat irritable bowel syndrome and constipation, but has been proven to increase chances of heart disease.
The shops in which the raids were carried out were located in Delhi localities like Rohini, Pritampura, Tilak Nagar, Janak Puri, Dwarka, Green Park, Saket, Lajpat Nagar, Karol Bagh, Rajender Nagar, Moti Nagar, Kirti Nagar, Dariyaganj, Mayur Vihar, Patparganj, Laxmi Nagar, Shadhara.
The government has issued orders to stop the sale of these drugs to the busted stores and hospitals.
“.. the continued use of these drugs is likely to involve certain risks to human beings and whereas safer alternatives to the said drugs are available. As per notifications, the manufacture, distribution, sale etc. of these drugs was required to be prohibited from the date of the notification in the official Gazette. ,” the Drugs Controller said.