The Kerala government will be setting up a machinery to test the quality standards of 7000 odd widely used medicines in the state under the capacity building project. For this a study of all essential and non-essential medicines will be conducted by the government soon.

This was disclosed by the state health minister while replying to a submission made by a MLA of the CPI regarding the faulty implementation of the drug procurement policy in Kerala. Many Pharmacy associations had earlier protested to the Health Minister about the negligence shown by the Central Purchasing Committee (CPC) in testing of drugs, which comes in batches to the District Medical Stores (DMS).

The issue used to get ignored for long by the government. Now when the issue came up again along with the faulty implementation of some other programmes by the MLA, the Health Minister had to give a proper reply.

According to sources, CPC which is the nodal agency for procurement of drugs, drug sample reaching it were not getting tested properly. The samples of the drugs, which are submitted with the tender are the only ones that are tested. But the ones, which reach the DMS, are not tested for ascertaining its quality. The main reason is the corruption, which is prevailing in the CPC, sources said.

Last time only 5 per cent of the batches, which came to the DMS, were tested for quality and the rest were distributed without testing. This according to them was one of the main reasons why many substandard medicines were available in the medical stores.

The drug procurement policy, notified by the state government by October 2004, recommends that the drugs ordered for post delivery testing at the district medical stores should be conducted in accredited laboratories in the State or outside. The payment for this will be made only when the drug passes the test and duly certified. But this was not being carried out, sources said.

In the letter No.MSP2-61998/05/DHS (CPC), dated August 1, 2005, the Director of Public Health Services mentions that the post delivery testing mentioned in policy of procurement of drugs and supplies does not mean that the stock will be taken only after the result of the test. "This clarification is issued as some Store Superintendents are found reluctant to take stock of the medicines supplied by CPC firms for want of post delivery testing result and it seems to be impractical and will cause delay in distributing drugs," the letter said.

They commented that as per the decision of directorate, the drugs are being distributed through the hospitals and distributing outlets even before the quality of the drug get tested, which makes the recommendation for testing the drugs in accredited laboratories, in the policy futile.

Speaking to Pharmabiz, V S Sunil Kumar, MLA, CPI, said, "All we need is that the medicines should reach the people without any hassle. And we need quality for these medicines. The Health Minister has assured that steps will be taken to assure the quality of drugs. And a Corporation for procurement of medicines is one of the assurances."