Karnataka drugs control department has come down heavily on violators of the Drugs & Cosmetic Act and Rules including those indulge in selling banned Electronic cigarettes. The inspectors in a surprise check of shopping malls in Bengaluru seized from three persons who were found selling the Electronic cigarettes. In the last three weeks, the department registered a total of six offences.
 
In addition, the Karnataka State Intelligence branch along with the CDSCO office Bengaluru detected label violations where details of shelf life was changed for medical device products valued to the tune of around Rs. 23 lakh.
 
In June this year, the Karnataka government banned Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems or e-cigarette. Use of nicotine in food products and its consumption is also prohibited under Food Safety and Standards Act 2006 and Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restriction on Sales) Regulation 2011.
 
In Bidar the department following a tip off, brought to light that a doctor who actually a quack was prescribing Schedule H drugs without prescription. These drugs were sold at a pharmacy outlet within his clinic which had a retail license. In this case, the drug inspectors reported two violations. One for non prescription sale of drug and the other was the clinic was manned by an unqualified medical practitioner.
 
At Gulbarga, the department’s drugs inspectors raided a company premises to unearth that oxygen was manufactured without a valid license.

The drug inspectors also seized drugs from a pharmacy outlet operating within the ESIC Hospital premises worth Rs. 1.5 lakh. “Major investigations are on for violating the Drugs & Cosmetic Act and Rules. Our department has been constantly on the vigil and alert to detect much of these infringements. However, we also see the need for drug inspectors in our department to ensure more such surprise checks are intensified, Bhagoji T Khanapure, Karnataka drugs controller told Pharmabiz.
 
“To strengthen the department with more drug inspectors and fill up the impending vacancies of 83 posts, we have communicated to the Karnataka Public Service Commission to do the needful. Out of these 25 posts are for junior scientific officers who will work at our drug test labs.

The department which has successfully been engaged in issuing online licenses for pharmacy retail-wholesale outlets, is yet to commission the manufacturing licenses via the online mode. Around 3 inspectors will be assigned to see the online operations at the FDA office Maharashtra where they could comprehend the license application processing and disposal. This would speed up the process to enable us to go in for a dedicated software from NIC, stated drugs controller Khanapure.
 
Currently to speed up issue of manufacturing applications, the department has set up a technical cell manned by a drug inspector who is engaged in scrutiny and approval of the submissions by the industry every day between 3 pm to 5 pm, informed Khanapure.