With a wide range of medications available , one must also be wary of the fake drugs available in the market . According to the Drug Control Department, 63 batches of spurious drugs, mainly comprising antibiotics, painkillers and cardiac medicines, are being sold in Bangalore.
Most of the drugs were found to have a very small percentage of medicine and in some no medicine at all. Karnataka's biggest spurious drug racket first came to light in May-end this year when investigations revealed that these batches of medicines were purported to be manufactured under brand names like Pfizer, Ranbaxy, Nicholas Piramal, Cadila and Cipla. A team of investigators were put on the job to trace the source of the spurious drugs, but to no avail. The department is yet to ascertain the location of the manufacturing unit. However it has been suspected that the spurious drugs were manufactured in Bihar or Uttar Pradesh.A resident of Cottonpet named Satish Sharma was arrested after he was found to have supplied the drugs to eight dealers in the city . Speaking Drugs Controller Ramakrishna Gandhi said the warnings have been conveyed to all its circle offices, hospitals, district health centres, Karnataka Chemists and Druggists Association and ESI dispensaries. The Drug Controller of India was also informed regarding the availability of spurious drugs in the market as officials fear that the medicines may be circulating even outside Karnataka.
