Safeguard public interest: HP High Court on substandard drugs

Expressing serious concern on the issue of manufacturing of substandard drugs in the state, the HP High Court has directed the state health authorities to make necessary provisions in the rules for safeguarding public interest.

While passing this direction, a Division Bench, comprising the Acting Chief Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan and Justice Satyen Vaidya, observed that “state of Himachal Pradesh is one of the major hubs of pharmaceutical manufacturing units in Asia with more than 600 factories”.

“Repeated failure of samples of drugs manufactured in the state is disparagingly disturbing feature, therefore, in the larger public interest, this court has been called upon to adjudicate upon the relevant issues by way of these PILs,” the high court said.

The high court further ordered that the accreditation by National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) of each of the laboratory could be considered to be made mandatory.

Apart from this, the State Drug Authority/licensing authority can additionally maintain register of such examiners employed by the manufacturing units of drugs in the state and the registration number allotted by the State Drug Authority also needs to be mentioned in the format.

The high court further directed the state authorities to file their respective affidavits in response to its observations made on or before the next date of hearing and listed the matter for further hearing on November 19.