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The West Bengal Department of Health and Family Welfare has issued a notification to ban 137 medicines that did not meet the drug quality standard on Saturday (May 24, 2025). It has also issued a notification to retailers and wholesalers for a quality check. This comes as the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) found over 196 inferior drugs across India.
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The West Bengal government has been cracking down on the usage of fake and lower grade medicines for the past few months. Multiple raids across the State drug godowns have led to the discovery of huge amounts of substandard medicines. In February, fake medicines worth around ₹17 lakh were seized from a godown in Howrah’s Amta area.
In this light, the State government issued a notice stating, “… based on the list provided by CDSCO… all stakeholders are hereby directed to recall the batches of the products from the supply chain.”
It also advised all medicine sellers to verify the license and GST number of the wholesalers they are buying from. “Wholesalers must ascertain that the medicines they are purchasing are through proper channel of distribution, starting from CFA of the original company,” the government notification added.
On May 19, the State government banned 25 other medicines for being below standard quality. On May 23, it recalled over 60 drugs from the market.
Some of these banned drugs include basic lifesaving medicines of hypertension, allergies, and more.
Earlier in the week, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had also accused that sub-standard drugs are entering Bengal from other States. “A lot of medicines have been banned; you must keep constant check if these medicines are being used in any medical facilities. Conduct surprise visits at Primary Health Centres to ensure safety of drugs used,” Ms. Banerjee said while talking to government health officials.
In an advertisement titled “Right to know the right drug” published by the Government of West Bengal last week it shared a list of 51 drugs and multiple drug company names which produced medicines of “substandard quality”. The advertisement was published in Bengal’s leading daily newspapers to raise public awareness. Some of the top company names flagged include Soft Touch Pharmaceuticals India Ltd, Apple Formulations Pvt Ltd, Logos Pharma.
As many as 2,988 drugs were declared ‘substandard’ in West Bengal in 2024. In the Rajya Sabha, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Samik Bhattacharya questioned the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on fake medicine issues in Bengal.
In response, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Anupriya Patel said that 1,06,150 drug samples had been tested in the past one year, and prosecution had been launched against 604 enterprises for the manufacture, sales and distribution of substandard/adulterated drugs.
Talking to The Hindu, senior doctor and public health administrator from Bengal, Subarna Goswami, said, “The regulatory systems in India against drugs is very diluted. Pharma is one of the most profit-making sectors. They must restrict price of drugs so that profit does not drive manufacturers to produce substandard medicines and circulate them in the market.”
Facing the heat
The West Bengal government faced major backlash in January 2025 when an alleged administration of Ringer Lactate saline on a postpartum mother led to her death. The Ringer Lactate from Paschim Banga Pharmaceuticals Pvt Ltd was used at Medinipur Medical College and Hospital.
The West Bengal government was questioned for the usage of Ringer Lactate from this supplier when the same drug had been flagged by several States, including Karnataka, which banned the supplier after four similar deaths.
Published – May 24, 2025 09:51 pm IST