The Central Drug Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) is found to have uploaded the names of many banned drugs and different prices on the official website while implementing the e-governance in a hurry, if the latest report by the Parliamentary panel is any indication.

The CDSCO has reportedly made available the wrong information while complying to the earlier recommendation of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health for adopting the information technology and e-governance.

“As regards lack of databank and accurate information, the Committee would like to observe that given the information technology resources currently available, developing an effective system of coordination amongst State Drug Authorities for providing quality and accurate data could have been accomplished long back had the Ministry taken any initiative towards encouraging the States to establish a system of harmonized and inter-connected databanks. Evidently, no serious efforts seem to have been made in this regard. The Committee, however, expects that the Ministry would, at least now, play a more proactive role in encouraging the States to employ modern information technology in the implementation of tasks assigned to them. At the same time a centralized databank (e.g. licences issued, cancelled, list of sub-standard drugs, prosecutions, etc.) may be created to which all the State Drug Authorities should be linked,” according to the earlier recommendation by the panel.

The Ministry, in its reply, said the data regarding about 85,000 brands of drug formulations approved by the various State Licensing Authorities as obtained from the State Food & Drug Control Administration (FDCA), Gujarat had been uploaded on the website of CDSCO. Information on various approvals and licences granted by the CDSCO are uploaded on its website from time-to-time. A file tracking system and posting of queries/approvals, etc on the website of CDSCO on daily basis have been introduced, the Ministry said.

However, the panel has found many wrong information and could locate only 65,500 odd formulations on the website. “They also found several banned drugs on the website; Drugs, which have been discontinued and are generally known to be so to the public at large also featured there. The Committee also noted a great degree of variance in the prices of some of the generally known drugs as reflected on the website and as prevalent in the market. To sum up, the Government has undertaken this measure in extreme hurry and in a very unprofessional manner, without even bothering about the serious consequences it may have in prescription procedures and also in financial terms on the poor hapless patients,” the latest report by the panel said.

“The Committee while strongly deprecating this action of the Ministry recommends that the said data be immediately removed from the website of CDSCO so as to prevent any further dissemination of wrong and archaic information about drugs, many of which may have life-saving/threatening implications. It also recommends that since the data base is a critical requirement for info generation, the information received from Gujarat authorities be updated on war footing and put up on the website of CDSCO within a month of the presentation of this report to the Parliament,” it said.