VISAKHAPATNAM: Busting a racket in issuing fake medical bills to employees for reimbursement of medicines purchased, the Drugs Control authorities have cancelled the licences of 10 medical shops in the city, according to R. Udaybhaskar, Drug Inspector and Drugs Control Authority of Visakhapatnam.

He told reporters here on Wednesday that the shops were issuing the bills to employees of the organisations through a broker.

The decision to cancel the licences had been taken after an investigation over a period of about nine months. The shop owners would be prosecuted under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act.

Mr. Udaybhaskar said some employees of the Naval Dockyard, NSTL, NAD and MES were obtaining the fake bills.

Case filed

He said letters would be addressed to the heads of the organisations too asking them to act on the issue.

In 2003, lists containing names of about 100 to 150 employees with the relevant forms required for reimbursement were found in two shops in Butchirajupalem and a case was filed in the Third Metropolitan Magistrate's Court. The PSUs and other establishments used to send bills for random verification to the Drug Control authorities. The authorities concerned had been asked to notify medical shops after ascertaining their antecedents and also to narrow down the scope of verification by the Drugs Control administration.

The Drugs Control authorities had taken up the investigation on their own after letters to some of the organisations to empanel some medical shops to prevent the misuse of reimbursement for drugs did not elicit any response.

Mr. Uday Bhaskar said it had been decided to act against the shops involved in the racket on the instruction of Director General (Drugs) V. Dinesh Reddy, following which the investigation had been taken up.

He said it would be difficult to decide the amount involved in the issue of fake bills for reimbursement which had been going on for years.

Each of the fake bills ranged from Rs. 350 to Rs. 400. On each of the bills, the medical shop owner got Rs. 5 and the broker Rs. 50.

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