Alarm in Sri Lanka over India-made medicines causing deaths and complication
Story highlights
Health Secretary Janaka Sri Chandragupta said that they are probing the quality of the Indian medicines that were imported via the Indian Line of Credit recently
The quality of Indian medicines is being questioned again, this time in neighbouring Sri Lanka where health officials are seeking a probe after fatalities and complications were reported across the nation.
Health Secretary Janaka Sri Chandragupta told News 1st that they are probing the quality of these Indian medicines which were imported via the Indian Line of Credit recently.
According to local media reports, a patient at the Intensive Care Unit of the Peradeniya Hospital died after being administered one of the medicines sourced from India.
Director of the Peradeniya Teaching Hospital, Dr Arjuna Thilakaratne, told News 1st that the woman was administered Indian-made anaesthetic Bupivacaine for hernia surgery, some two months ago.
He said that another woman who was admitted to the same hospital to deliver a child died after being given the same Indian anaesthetic drug.
This comes after the 10 visually impaired patients who were administered Indian medicines after eye surgery complained of complications in May 2023.
The doctors noted the “presence of germs” in the eye medication as a reason for the patients’ condition. Following this, the Sri Lankan Health Ministry blacklisted the use of Prednisolone eye drops.
Two Indian firms in the dock
The report prompted the Indian drug regulator, Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation, to launch an investigation against a pharmaceutical company based in Gujarat. The probe is currently underway.
Indiana Ophthalmics from Wadhwan-Gujarat has been told to investigate the cause, according to reports.
WHO labels 4 cough syrups as 'substandard products', Indian pharma company in the dock?
Notably, prior to these incidents, Transparency International Sri Lanka, an NGO that fights against corruption, had filed a petition in the Sri Lankan Supreme Court, challenging the decision of the Cabinet and health authorities to procure drugs from unregistered suppliers.
The petition questioned the national drug regulator’s role in providing a waiver of registration to allow for the swift import of essential drugs.
Gujarat-based Savorite Pharmaceuticals (Pvt) Limited and Chennai-based Kausikh Therapeutics were named as respondents. Early in April, the Supreme Court granted leave to proceed in the case and suspended imports from these companies, the Hindu newspaper reported.
Not the first time
This is not the first time that Indian-made medicines were taken down over their quality. In February this year, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that around 90 kids died last year of kidney failure, 20 in Uzbekistan and 70 in Gambia, after allegedly consuming India-made cough syrups.
Gambian and Swiss tests found the syrups contained toxic industrial-grade glycol rather than the safe but costlier pharmaceutical-grade glycerine, the agency said.
The US also began investigating the EzriCare Artificial Tears, an over-the-counter eye drop produced by Global Pharma Healthcare in Chennai, India, after linking it to complications and death.
Relying on India-made drugs
India is one of the leading manufacturers of low-cost generic drugs. The pharmaceutical sector is one of the fastest-growing sectors with a market value of $42 billion.
It supplies 40 per cent of US generics, a quarter of UK medicines and 45 per cent of Africa’s generics. Many of its factories are world-class and millions of people around the world consume Indian-made drugs without incident.
(With inputs from agencies)
WATCH WION LIVE HERE