Chandigarh, December 16, 2019 (Yes Punjab News)
With around Rs. 4 Crore worth of drugs seized from 938 firms under Drug and Cosmetics Act, Punjab has registered massive decline in the numbers of new drug abusers in state in the last one year.
The drugs would be destroyed in a phased manner beginning today and would further intensify our crackdown to take our mission to make Punjab Drug Free to its logical end, state Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu said here.
Speaking after handing over appointment letters to 13 new recruited analysts here at Chandigarh, the Minister said Punjab is on its way to become drug free. Nine analysts in the Food Lab and 4 analysts in the Drugs Lab at the Govt. Food & Drugs Laboratories, Kharar have been appointed today.
He further said that this seizures include 5,42,425 tablets, 57,340 capsules, besides 4,654 injections and 1,190 syrups. The Food & Drugs Administration, in its pursuance to provide safe and efficacious drugs to the people of Punjab has made untiring efforts to weed out menace of drug abuse from the state.
During this campaign large quantity of drugs were seized by the department from the firms for violations of Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940 and Rules 1945, the Minister further added.
Underlining the Captain Amarinder Singh Government’s firm resolve to weed out drugs menace from the state, Mr. Balbir Singh Sidhu pointed out the state FDA has already restricted the sale of eight types of drugs in the state i.e drugs formulations containing the narcotics drugs namely diphenoxylate, dextropropoxyphene, codeine and their salts, psychotropic substances buprenorphine, pentazocine, nitrazepam and their salts and tramadol & tapentadol in solid oral dosage forms covering around ninety percent of the licensed chemists of the state are not allowed to stock and sale these drugs formulations and only those chemists are allowed whose shops are inside or outside the hospitals.
Taking strict action against the violators, a large number of drugs licenses were suspended/cancelled. The department has also made amendments in the drug policy to control the mushrooming of chemist shops in the urban & rural areas.
Speaking on the occasion the Commissioner Food & Drug Administration Mr. Kahan Singh Pannu, said that for effective control of the purchase, sale and distribution of certain habit forming drugs, the department has also framed guidelines that no habit forming drugs shall be supplied by the manufacturer or traders without written authentic order of the purchaser and payment against such supplies shall necessarily be made through approved sources i.e. either by cheque, draft or RTGs mode of transactions. The payment made by unapproved sources will amount to contraventions of the Drugs & Cosmetics Act and Rules, leading to suspension/cancellation of licenses.
It may be recalled that in its fight against the menace, the state government had also set up an ultra modern food and drugs testing lab has at Kharar which is equipped with latest equipment working under the supervision of highly trained staff.
