When Chennai and other parts of Tamil Nadu are flooded with expired drugs and illicit drug traders, the state health minister MRK Panneer Selvam reviewed the situation arising out of the recent raids and seizures of huge quantity of expired drugs by police and drug control officials from several parts of the state.

In the review meeting called by the health minister in his office, besides the principal health secretary, it was attended by the director of Drugs Control Administration and other senior officers of the department. According to sources, the minister was busy with the Pennagaram by-election, hence he could not comment so much on the present illicit drug trade in the state. Sources said the Minister has given strict instructions to the health department officials, especially to the drugs control director, M Bhaskaran to act properly and take immediate action on the illicit traders.

Later while speaking to Pharmabiz, Bhaskaran said his department will strengthen the raids, and investigations are going on the already charged cases.

When the case of expired drugs came out on March 15, immediately the chief minister M Karunanidhi has called a meeting of the health officials and asked them to moot special teams to unearth the network of manufacturers and traders of spurious and expired drugs spreading across Tamil Nadu through neighbouring states. The immediate action of the city police has uncovered the network of miscreants engaged in recycling the time barred drugs..

Meanwhile the state CB CID, Chennai District SP, S Mallika said they have arrested last day three persons with regard to an old spurious and substandard drug case forwarded to them by the state drugs control department. The state drugs control department has seized some quantities of the spurious version of Primolut-N, a tablet by Cadila Health Care, in last December. Later the case was forwarded to the CB CID.

According to CID officials, they have arrested one Sreenivasan of Sudarsan Pharmacy, Kilpauk, P Kannan, Ganesh Medicals, Kumbhakonam and Hemant Kumar of Vimal Pharmacy, Chennai in connection with the case. Later the three accused were produced in the court which remanded them to judicial custody.

The CID- SP said the accused Sreenivasan was getting spurious drugs from one Ramu of Hyderabad, and the police have formed special teams to arrest him. Two times the police have reached Hyderabad to nab him, but he could not be taken into custody. Police said by selling the spurious drugs, Sreenivasan was getting 30 percent of the cost of the original medicine.

When asked whether the CB CID has any investigation role in the present expired drugs issue in the state, Mallika said so far no.