The central government has appointed an expert committee to look into the issues of spurious drugs, medical devices and the plight of diagnostic centers in the country and to suggest ways and means to tackle these issues which have attracted flak from different quarters. Dr PN Tandon, emeritus professor at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, is the chairman of the nine-member committee.

The committee, appointed by the Principal Scientific Advisor to the government of India, has been given nine months time to submit a detailed report on these burning issues. The committee will broadly look into these issues and will prepare detailed legislative and administrative guidelines for these segments which are in real mess in the country.

ICMR Director General Dr VK Katoch, DCGI Dr Surinder Singh, well known oncology surgeon at Gangaram Hospital Dr Indraneel Mittra, famous paediatric surgeon at Teerathram Shah Hospital Dr Sudhir Krishna, chief scientific officer at Bilcare, Pune, Dr Praful Naik and MIMS editor Dr CM Gulhati are some of the members of the committee. Neeraj Sinha is the member secretary of the committee.

The constitution of an expert committee of this calibre is significant as it shows that the government is under immense pressure from different world bodies to address these health issues. There were reports appearing in the world media that point at India as a major source of spurious drugs in the world. The committee will study and analyse scientific and technical measures which are adopted in US and other advanced countries to tackle the menace of spurious drugs.

The committee has also been asked to broadly look into the mess prevailing in the medical devices market in the country and to suggest ways to regulate this segment.