The minister said that every hospital and nursing home in Karnataka has been directed not to use the seized medicines. (Representative Image)
BENGALURU: Karnataka Health Minister U T Khader on Tuesday said the probe into a major interstate counterfeit drug racket has led to the arrest of the owner of a healthcare firm, with investigators now probing the suspected supply of fake medicines and ICU injections to hospitals and clinics.
Sharing a news report on X, Khader recalled that on August 18, the state’s Health & Family Welfare Department and the Karnataka Food Safety and Drug Administration raided a farmhouse near the Bidadi Toll Gate and seized suspected fake and expired medicines worth nearly Rs 5 crore. On August 19, After discussion with Chief Minister D K Shivakumar and Home minister Priyank Kharge constituted a six-member SIT headed by a senior IPS officer to lead a major inter-state investigation, with officers of the Food Safety & Drug Administration and Commercial Taxes Departments on the team,” Khader said.
Khader said the Karnataka government had busted the fake drug racket in what he described as one of the biggest crackdowns of its kind in the country. He said the preliminary investigation had revealed a “deeply concerning” modus operandi with interstate ramifications. He said the full list of spurious and counterfeit drugs had been communicated to the Union government and all states. The minister said every hospital and nursing home in Karnataka had been directed not to use the seized medicines.
“We did not wait a single day.