35 drug samples from Janaushadhi Kendra in Karnataka found not of standard quality

Bengaluru: A total of 35 drug samples from J Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana (PMBJP) stores, commonly called Jan Aushadhi Kendras, in Karnataka were found to be not of standard quality (NSQ) during the Food Safety and Drug Administration’s (FDA) latest special drive conducted four months ago.Janaushadhi Kendras are central govt supported pharmacies that sell generic medicines at lower prices compared to many branded medicines.Special drives are routinely conducted by the FDA every quarter against pharmacies. Health minister Dinesh Gundu Rao Thursday said, “There are a total of 1,321 Janaushadhi Kendras in Karnataka. Our special drive was conducted across 230 centres. We found 35 drug samples collected from these centres were NSQ.

We are also prosecuting the centres in two cases.”Despite being mandated to sell generic medicines, Rao said it has been noticed that a few centres are selling branded medicines. “We are taking action against such centres. At the state level, we have decided to include a specific clause about selling only generic medicines henceforth, while issuing new licenses for Janaushadhi Kendras,” he said.Rao also said the FDA had cracked down on hundreds of pharmacies and drug manufacturing units in the last one year for quality control.

“We had collected 16,337 samples across the state and found that 473 samples were NSQ. Acting against it, we cancelled licenses of 125 pharmacies, suspended over 2,200 pharmacies and 311 pharmacies were prosecuted,” he said.He also said 457 pharmacies were suspended and 17 cases were booked against over 1,300 pharmacies for misuse of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS).Digital portal launched to track misuseA new digital surveillance system aimed at identifying substandard drugs and preventing the misuse of NDPS medicines was launched Wednesday.

The system, introduced through an online portal, is designed to help authorities accurately detect NSQ drugs in the market and enable real-time monitoring of their circulation.Rao said he had written to Union ministers a year ago, seeking regulations on the issue, following which the state decided to implement its own monitoring mechanism. According to the minister, the e-signing system introduced last year helped provide immediate market information, leading to the recall of drugs worth Rs 1.8 crore.Under the new system, once a drug is identified as substandard, details will be uploaded to the portal and instantly shared with registered wholesale traders to prevent further sales. Around 15,000 wholesalers have registered on the platform so far.Authorities said every sale of NDPS medicines must now be mandatorily recorded online, helping officials detect repeated use of the same prescription and track possible misuse.