A senior delegation of Union commerce ministry will be soon visiting the southern African region to allay any fears among the countries there about the quality of Indian generic drugs. This is in continuation of India's aggressive campaign to counter the multinational companies' (MNCs) propaganda against the Indian generic drugs.

Senior commerce ministry officials said that the visit to southern African countries by the Indian delegation is part of a series of measures to counter the MNCs propaganda and also to remove misconception among the African countries. The Indian government wanted the African countries to desist from introducing laws in their countries under which the generic drugs will be treated as counterfeit drugs.

Under the influence of the MNCs propaganda, Kenya and Uganda have recently come out with draft Bills under which even generic drugs will be classified as counterfeit drugs. Indian officials are worried that apart from Kenya and Uganda, other African countries may also follow the same path which will put the Indian pharma industry in great difficulty as several Indian companies are exporting generic drugs to African countries.

The first and the foremost task of the Indian delegation would be to convince the African countries about the quality of Indian generic drugs and also to convince them that generic drugs are not counterfeit drugs as is being spread by the MNCs. The MNCs are learnt to have spread the rumours in the African countries that the Indian generic drugs are spurious drugs and only patented drugs are good for consumption.

Concerned over the MNCs' propaganda against the Indian generic drugs in African countries, the Union commerce ministry had initiated some proactive actions to counter them in the recent past. On April 24 this year, the ministry had called a meeting of all the Ambassadors and High Commissioners of African countries in India to clarify and convince the African countries how the generic drugs are being manufactured in India after complying strict quality parameters. The meeting discussed the status of Indian pharma and issues related to improvement in bilateral trade between India and African countries. DCGI Dr Surinder Singh made a presentation in the meeting.