By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: Cases of illegal practice of medicine without valid license doesn’t seem to die out as some case or the other is reported every now and then. The latest such complaint is lodged by John G Warjri, Inspector of Drugs, West Garo Hills at Dalu PS who has detected five persons Amit Saha, Gokul Pandit, Dipok Sarkar, Sandip Mohanta and Md Abbas Ali while they were illegally selling medicines at Kherapara Weekly Market (WGH) without valid drug licenses. The accused persons along with medicines were handed over to Dalu PS.
Speaking to The Shillong Times, Sanjay Goyal, DC, West Garo Hills while agreeing that selling medicines without any valid license is going on in the district said that checking which is going on stringently now was not done for years in the past. “We have already designated an officer, a magistrate, who is in the field two to three days in a week to inspect such cases.
Though the district is big we have caught hold of many such practitioners and immediately filed cases against them,” said Mr Goyal.
He said that in the first week of August, a van from Nagaon, Assam was held at Kherapara for selling medicines without any valid license or authorization from the district administration. Reiterating that checking has not been done seriously in the past, as a result, people took advantage of the situation.
“But now pharmacists, drug stores, doctors are all checked thoroughly about their licenses, registration numbers etc. and things are improving now as the genuine practitioners display their valid documents and in the near future things will be better,” said the DC.
He also said that with the new checking in place by the drug inspectors, showcases have been issued to pharmacist and drug users within Tura town who were blatantly flouting norms, in the recent past.
On asking if there is any outside hand for this unfair trade that has unearthed more in recent times, Mr Goyal said, “No, it is purely a business kind of a thing and any individual who got some money, say, Rs 40,000 or so, starts a store and start selling paracetamol and such other commonly consumed capsules until and unless someone checks it.
But the message has already gone to these practitioners and others who are doing such illegal things will be discouraged.”
