Bhubaneswar/Cuttack: The Odisha government has sought cooperation from Bihar in the investigation into the supply and sale of fake blood pressure (BP) medicines Telma-40 and Telma-AM in Odisha.
“Assistant drug controllers Tushar Ranjan Panigrahi and Dharmadev Puhan have proceeded to Bihar to obtain details of the drug manufacturer from the drug control administration, which is involved in the supply of spurious medicines,” Principal Secretary, Health & Family Welfare Department, Nikunja Bihari Dhal wrote to Additional Chief Secretary, Health Department of Bihar, Pratyaya Amrit while requesting for cooperation to the team deputed by Odisha.
Notably, the Odisha government had asked the Drugs Controller, Bihar, on two occasions to provide the details on the supply of drugs, but received no feedback.
The Health Secretary has also urged his Bihar counterpart to instruct the Directorate of Drug Control to submit the reply.
“Hence, it is requested that necessary instructions may kindly be issued to the concerned authorities to extend their cooperation to the team deputed for the purpose so as to take things to a logical conclusion,” Dhal added.
Huge quantities of fake Telma-40 and Telma-AM tablets were seized during raids by officials of the state Drug Control Administration in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar recently. A four-member team of Commissionerate Police led by a Purighat police inspector has also been sent to Gaya to trace the manufacturers of the spurious drugs.
Two distributors in Cuttack Sanjay Jalal, owner of Puja Enterprises, and Rahul Syal, proprietor of VR Agencies, were also arrested following the raids. The investigation revealed that these agencies had allegedly procured the fake drugs from Gaya and Bengaluru.
An additional 1,350 strips of fake Telma-40 medicines costing about Rs 3 lakh were seized by Purighat police from a transport agency on Mahatab Road in Cuttack on Monday.
Glenmark, the manufacturer of Telma-40 and Telma-AM, has clarified that it did not manufacture the spurious drugs seized in Odisha.
