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Task forces to check spurious drug trade, female foeticide

BHUBANESWAR: Faced with criticism from various quarters, the Orissa Government on Wednesday announced that it would form separate task forces to check the spurious medicine trade and female foeticide.

The decision was taken at a high-level meeting held at the Secretariat. The meeting was presided over by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

The task forces that would deal with the spurious medicine racket would be headed by District Collectors in all 30 districts of the State. The Superintendents of Police, Chief District Medical Officers and Drug Inspectors of each district will be members of these task forces.

Special squads will be formed under these task forces to conduct raids at regular intervals to verify the genuineness of drugs being sold in the market.

Further, the meeting decided that a State-level control room would be set up under the Health Department to tackle the menace of fake medicines.

Similarly, separate task forces would be set up in every district with Sub-Collectors as their heads.

These task forces will have Superintendents of Police, Chief District Medical Officers and heads of the district Social Welfare Boards as members.

Registration will be made mandatory for all private clinics and nursing homes. The licence system for ultrasound clinics will be made stringent and such diagnostic centres not having the required licence will be closed.

Moreover, a monitoring committee will be set up at the State level to oversee the working of the task forces. The committee will be headed by the Chief Secretary.

The Secretaries of the Departments of Home, Health and Women and Child Development will remain members of the committee.

As regards action against the violators of law, the Health Department continued to conduct raids and inspections on medical shops and diagnostic centres in several towns across the State.

By Wednesday evening, seven persons had been arrested by the Nayagarh police for their alleged involvement in female foeticide, while the Bolangir police booked four persons in connection with the fake drug racket.

Meanwhile, Opposition Congress blamed the Naveen Patnaik Government for the thriving fake medicine trade in different parts of the State and female foeticide in Nayagarh and other towns.

At a press conference, Pradesh Congress president Jayadev Jena demanded that the State government order a CBI inquiry into both these cases to bring culprits to the book.

Mr. Jena further demanded that the Health Minister Duryodhan Majhi immediately step down owing moral responsibility for the sale of fake medicines and female foeticide.

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