Andhra Pradesh - Eluru   

Drop in potency of drugs noticed

Staff Reporter

Failure to adhere to storage norms: official

ELURU: Deputy Director, Department of Drug Control Administration, K. Subbi Reddy on Sunday observed that a drop in potency of some drugs was noticed due to the failure by druggists and chemists to conform to the stipulated storage conditions while preserving such drugs.

Mr Reddy, who was here to participate in a workshop on `Rural healthcare - the role of druggists and chemists' held here under the aegis of the Eluru rural area Chemists and Druggists

Association told The Hindu that many a refrigerator in the medical shops meant for storage of some brands of drugs were found switched off most of the times.

The fear of mounting power bill by the shop owners or disruptions in power supply could be the reasons for the refrigerators remaining idle.

As a result, vaccines, insulin and biological preparations, anti-biotics and capsule formulations, which ought to be preserved in certain storage conditions, registered a drop in their potency, Mr Reddy explained. Sometimes these drugs had also been turning to be spurious for want of preservation in the prescribed storage conditions, he added.

The official informed that the incidence of `not-of-standard quality' drugs in the State was registered at 3-4 per cent every year.

Of the 4,000-5,000 drug samples collected by the Drug Inspectors across the State every year, the standards of 60-80 of them were not up to the mark.

Management of medical shops by the non-qualified persons was one of the factors contributing to the poor standards of drugs, he remarked.

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Drop in potency of drugs noticed

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