Putting human lives on risk the majority of medical shops are promoting substitute and substandard drugs at large scale which fetches them higher margins of profit.
The drug department has hoodwinked the state government and general public by declaring in newspapers that there are taking action against those selling spurious and sub-standard drugs in Kashmir but infact is facilitating the drug mafia to operate in various districts.
Drug and Food Control Organization has failed to evaluate a large number of retail and wholesale drug dealers for the renewal of license even scores of new shops have been started without license from the concerned department in many areas of the valley.
Medical shops usually don’t sell the medicine prescribed by the doctors. They give customers substituted drugs to earn high margins of profit.
The prices of some drugs are much higher than prescribed ones. The condition is very bad in valley and we don’t know what these shops would be selling in the rural areas.
The doctors prescribe drugs of reputed and genuine companies after properly analyzing the salts. However, the medical shops convince the patients of takings substitutes which cost much higher.
Drug sector is considered to be one of the largest industries in the valley today with an annual turnover of around Rs 400 crore in Srinagar district alone.
A patient was prescribed Moviprep (a powder) for a test by a doctor but was given few tablets by a medical shopkeeper in Kangan instead. He was sent back by doctors at SKIMS saying that he was unprepared for the test.
Here in Kangan middle fail boys are working in medical shops. What they read from prescriptions and what type of medicine they could provide to the patients is any bodys guess.
Unchecked sale of drugs are a growing menace and their abuse is a growing threat to people at large! This area has became a hub of such drugs and one can see alcohol and drug bottles strewn across public places. Who sells these drugs is well known but the D&C Deptt is watching all this. The officials do visit them but only to recover their shares (Hafta).
Irshad Beigh
(Kangan)
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