A team of drug control officials from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) office along with the Rajasthan drug control officials have commenced random sampling of medicines distributed under Rajasthan Free Drug Distribution Scheme. The scheme started two years ago by the Rajasthan government.

The sampling exercise started with Northern States like Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh four months back and is now being done in Rajasthan and will be taken up in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka in the coming months. Says Dr G N Singh, DGCI, "The exercise of doing surveillance through random sampling in drug stores have now been started in Rajasthan with the aim of protecting patient's rights necessitated by the growing health safety awareness across the country. Every month a state will be chosen and will be put under surveillance to keep a check on the quality of medicines.”

“It will be an ongoing exercise in coordination with state drug regulators to enhance enforcement. The exercise would sensitize state drug regulators in enforcing the law more stringently,” Dr Singh explains.

The regulators who started sampling and inspections from December 23, 2013 in Rajasthan will complete the inspections by December 31, 2013 to come out with a report on the quality of drugs. Informs Ajay Jain, state drug controller, Government of Rajasthan,”We are in the process of sampling medicines from public healthcare institutions and retail pharmacies. The samples would be sent for testing in different government labs across the country to check their quality and efficacy.”

There are around 20,000 retail establishments and 16,000 drug distribution counters in government hospitals across the state which are closely monitored by the state drug regulators.

"Besides checking the quality of drugs, we are planning to appoint 20 drug control officers to enhance the existing manpower which currently stands at 88 for the entire state," Jain adds.

The state has been providing free medicines under the Rajasthan Free Drug Distribution Scheme since October 2, 2011 through Rajasthan Medical Services Corporation (RMSC). The scheme has been able to address the issues like insufficient supply of drugs at several places and shortage of doctors, para-medical staff and pharmacists mainly at the primary health centres in remote villages.