The Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) will shortly start collection of samples in 15 categories of drugs including antibiotics as a part of a survey on spurious and not-of-standard (NoS) drugs being conducted in collaboration with Indian Statistical Institute and National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO).

It will be a pan-India project in which drug samples would be drawn from healthcare institutions and retail pharmacies across the country to assess the quality of drugs available to the common man. For the survey, the NSSO has already started collecting basic information. This will be followed by collection of samples, analysis of the samples and drafting of the final report.

Earlier, a survey to assess the extent of spurious drugs in the country was conducted in the year 2009 by the ministry of health, which revealed that the extent of drugs found spurious was 0.046 per cent only.

According to an official associated with the development, "Collection of samples will start in the coming two to three months time. Dr Surinder Singh, director, National Institute of Biologicals (NIB), Noida, is the chairman of the committee conducting the survey. This broad-based survey would help in identifying the geographical areas where spurious drugs are available so that a focussed monitoring is done by the concerned authorities in these areas for eliminating the menace of spurious drugs."


The NSSO has asked the state governments to provide information to arrive at a statistical design for the survey. It is collecting information such as the number of retail outlets (district-wise); information regarding the maximum prescription of drugs under each of the 15 category including their trade name district wise; number of civil hospital stores (district-wise); number of central medical store (state-wise); and number of Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) dispensaries throughout the country.

Based on the survey of 2009 and data provided by ISI, Hyderabad, 24,136 samples of 62 brands of drugs belonging to 9 therapeutic categories were collected. The survey covered around 30 manufacturers from over 100 different pharmacy outlets in different regions of the country located in metros, big cities, district, towns and villages.