DCA raids quacks, seizes medicine stocks

The Telangana State Drug Control Administration (DCA) conducted raids at three clinic locations operated by quacks. Officials seized medicines that were stocked at the clinics.

According to the DCA, a person named Bakkathatla Nagesh operated a clinic in Singampalle village, Jayashankar Bhupalapally. Another unqualified practitioner, Ashok Kumar, ran a healthcare facility in Sanjay Gandhi Nagar, Jeedimetla, Medchal-Malkajgiri. The third person, identified as Jalandhar, operated a facility in Yedira village, Mahabubnagar district.

During the raids, DCA teams seized a total of 70 varieties of drugs worth Rs 95,000 from the clinics they operated.

The officials stated that a large stock of medicines, including antibiotics, steroids, analgesics, cough syrups, antiulcer drugs, antidiabetics, antihypertensives, and higher-generation antibiotics, were detected and confiscated during the raids at the clinics.

In another raid, TSDCA officials seized Ayurvedic medicine ‘Mahasudarshan Kadha,’ manufactured by Om Pharmaceuticals in Bengaluru and marketed by Shree Dhootapeswar in Mumbai.

The product was being sold in the market with a label claiming that it could treat fevers, violating the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954.

TSDCA officials also confiscated ‘ITZOCAP-200 Capsules’ (Itraconazole Capsules 200 mg) at a medical shop in Sangareddy. These capsules are subject to price control under the Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 2013, with a ceiling price set by the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA).

The product ‘Itraconazole Capsules 200 mg,’ sold under the brand name ‘ITZOCAP-200 Capsules’ (B No. MPC23023A), manufactured by Micro Organics Pharmaceuticals (India) Pvt Ltd, located at Ogli, Suketi Road, Kala-Amb, Sirmour, Himachal Pradesh, has an MRP of Rs 299 for a pack containing 10 capsules, equating to Rs 29.90 per capsule. However, the NPPA has set the cost of the medicine at Rs 22.12 for one capsule.