Operations of 30 drug sale outlets disallowed for violation of rules

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 23: Drugs and Food Control Organization (DFCO) Jammu carried out a special inspection drive across Jammu province to ensure that quality drugs are made available to the public at affordable rates.
During the drive, the sleuths of DFCO disallowed operations of 30 drug sale establishments including eight in Jammu, four in Samba, two in Kathua, five in Doda, four in Kishtwar, three in Udhampur and four in Ramban for breach of conditions of the licenses and mandate of law under Section 22 (d) of Drugs & Cosmetics Act, 1940 on spot.
The sleuths of DFCO, during the drive, warned the pharma dealers to desist from unethical trade practices, particularly with respect to sale and purchase of psychotropic drugs from unregulated channels which are prone to be misused by the nefarious elements.
Statutory drug samples of more than 100 fast moving/commonly prescribed drug formulations viz cough syrups, pediatric syrups, antibiotics, etc were also drawn from the supply chain for determination of quality parameters with respect to strength and purity. All the samples were referred to drug testing laboratories for framing legal opinion to ascertain their quality parameters.
Further, stocks of drugs worth Rs 82,503 that were found to be contravening the provisions of Drugs & Cosmetics Act were confiscated from the supply chain by the Regulatory Officers of the Organization under relevant provisions of the Drugs & Cosmetics Act.
The team of DFCO sleuths also impressed upon the drug dealers to adopt computerized system of billing for maintenance of sales & purchase records as mandated under law and install CCTV cameras at prominent places in their premises for better surveillance.