Mumbai: State health minister Prakash Abitkar announced Monday the deployment of portable laser scanners in eight divisions that detect fake and substandard medicines in govt hospitals within two minutes.
The samples found contaminated through this machine would be retested using 12 NABL-approved laboratories. It has an accuracy between 90% and 98%.
“We are moving from complaint-based system to action-driven system,” Abitkar said. Officials said if lab tests confirm contamination, this information would be further conveyed to Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Ganesh Rokade, joint commissioner (drug), said no such product has reached him after he took over earlier this year While the company representatives said they had also approached the state FDA in this regard earlier. He said, “We have our own labs which are capable of handling any tests. Health department officials said the product is US FDA-approved.
Every medicine has its own distinct chemical signature depending on the ingredients it contains. Based on Raman spectroscopy (named after physicist C V Raman), the machine uses inelastic light scattering to analyse molecular vibrations and verify these chemical signatures. It then matches these signatures with its internal library that contains ingredients for commonly used drugs. The device is being rolled out in eight pilot districts: Thane, Pune, Kolhapur, Solapur, Sangli, Amravati, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Latur. It would be handled by a ‘flying squad’ who would hold random tests of medicines supplied at hospitals and dispensaries under the public health department. Separate teams have been formed for the eight divisions with a two-member team active in each division. The health department expects test reports to be received within roughly eight days of sample submission. We have not had any demonstration of the product and neither is it functional anywhere in the country.