The Union Health Ministry's nationwide campaign against counterfeit drugs is all set to take off in February as the ministry has almost finalised the proposal. The objective of the campaign is to collect firsthand authentic information about the extent of reach of counterfeit drugs in the country.

Though the ministry had planned to begin the survey of the counterfeit drugs from December 1, 2007, due to some reasons, including the department's preoccupation with the fixed dose combination (FDC) drugs issue, the launch got delayed.

Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) Dr M Venkateshwarlu said that his department has already finalised the proposal and will be sent to the health ministry for its final nod soon. "Everything will be in place to launch the much awaited campaign early in February", he said. About the fund for the campaign, he said there is no dearth of funds and release of fund will never be a roadblock for this survey.

As per the proposal, the ministry will hire 600 employees on contract, preferably pharmacy graduates, for the purpose. The employees will be fanned out to all the about 8,500 talukas of the country. The volunteers will approach the medical stores and collect samples from them.

It is estimated that around 3 lakh samples will be collected under this survey which is expected to be completed within eight weeks of the launch. The collected samples will be sent to the original manufacturers to verify whether the product is original or counterfeited. After verification, the doubtful products will be sent for further testing, Dr Venkateshwarlu said.

Though there are no two opinions about the prevalence of counterfeit drugs in the pharmaceutical market of the country, there is no authentic data about the depth of this social evil. Different estimates speak differently of the depth and reach of the counterfeit drugs in the country. The ministry's survey will pinpoint on the amount of counterfeit drugs available in the market.

According to industry sources, counterfeit drug market runs into thousands of crore of rupees in the country. Counterfeit drugs are marketed with the active support of the retail chemists as it is they who stock the counterfeit products and sell them for more margins.