Out of the total 39248 samples of drugs collected and tested through the official machinery during the last financial year, as many as 117 samples have been tested spurious or adulterated, though the number of cases of spurious drugs has come down in the last few years while the action against illegal trade has picked up.

According to the data with the health ministry sources, as many as 1942 samples from the total bunch have been found of sub-standard quality during the period of 2009-10. The authorities initiated action against manufacturing, sale and distribution of spurious and substandard drugs in 138 cases and as many as 147 persons were arrested. Drugs worth Rs 10.07 crore have been seized by the officials, sources said.

However, going by the number of cases, there was decline in comparison to the previous year. The officials of CDSCO took 45145 samples during the year of 2008-09 and found 2597 samples to be not of standard quality. The number of samples tested spurious during the period was 157. Prosecution was initiated in 220 cases and 133 persons were arrested after seizing drugs worth Rs 15.74 crore, sources said.

During 2007-08, a total of 39117 samples were collected by the CDSCO teams. The tests conducted thereafter proved that 2429 samples were of substandard quality. But the number of spurious cases was less at 77. The authorities launched prosecution in 120 cases and 122 persons were arrested.

West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Maharashtra continued to top among the States with highest number spurious drugs. During the last year, West Bengal reported 11 cases of spurious drugs and 61 cases of substandard drugs while Delhi had six cases of spurious drugs and 22 of substandard drugs . Uttar Pradesh reported 27 cases of spurious drugs and 88 cases of substandard drugs whereas in Maharashtra, nine samples were tested spurious and 378 others of substandard quality. Bihar also had comparatively large number with 27 cases of spurious drugs and 48 cases of substandard drugs.

All these cases were reported as part of the random check by the CDSCO officials. Apart from these routine tests, the CDSCO had undertaken a special survey last year with statistical principles provided by Indian Statistical Institute, Hyderabad. Under this survey, 24,136 samples of 61 brands of drugs belonging to nine therapeutic categories of 29 manufacturers from over 100 pharmacy outlets in different regions and located in each stratum of metros, big cities, district, towns and villages were collected. The survey revealed that extent of spurious was 0.046 per cent.

On the action front, the government stepped up the activities by amending the legislation to increase the punishment for those indulged into the illegal spurious drugs trade and launched a whistle-blower policy to trace the instances.