By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Nov 30: Health Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh on Thursday said that spurious drugs are becoming a big challenge in healthcare sector and the government is trying to ensure that it does not enter the market in the state.
“Whenever we have been notified, even recently there was a story circulating, we have verified all those stories making sure that spurious drugs do not enter the market,” said Health Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh on Thursday.
Spurious Drugs are drug formulations which conceal the true identity of the product which resembles some other drug, and more particularly, a drug belonging to a popular brand. Such drugs often deceive the buyer and cash in on the popularity of the original brand.
She said, “We are working hard to ensure that we test. Now that we have a drug society in the state it will be a one-stop platform so that these spurious drugs do not come into the market”.
“We look at generic drugs so that the people do not have to pay much for Paracetamol. These are things that we are doing to make sure that we cut down on the spurious drug that are also becoming a big challenge in health care and health facilities,” she said, further adding that the state has a drug inspectorate and it is running its tests regularly.
She added, “We have already created the society, listed the essential drugs, looked at storage facilities, and we are looking at all of these facilities making sure that dispensaries are functioning with proper facilities. Cool storage is just one of the facilities that we need. There are many more things that we need to do”.