HYDERABAD, MAY 21, 2024: Officials of Drugs Control Administration, Telangana seized overpriced antibiotic ointment ‘Teet-Bet Ointment’ (Mupirocin Ointment IP 2% w/w) at Uppal, Medchal-Malkajgiri District and raids a quack’s clinic in Azmapur village of Nalgonda district on Monday.
DCA Director-General VB Kamalasan Reddy said that the DCA officials seized ‘Teet-Bet Ointment’ (Mupirocin Ointment IP 2% w/w) on 20th May, 2024 at a medical shop in Uppal Khalsa in Uppal Mandal. The product Mupirocin Ointment IP 2% w/w sold under brand name ‘Teet-Bet Ointment’ is under price control as per Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 2013 and the price of product shall be in accordance with the ‘Ceiling Price’ fixed by National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA), Government of India.
However, the ointment bears MRP of Rs 135 for 5 gram pack on the label of the project which is violation of drugs (prices control) order 2013. The Ceiling price fixed by the central government including wholesale price index was Rs 20.29 per 1 gram and Rs 101.45 per 5 gram (ceiling price). Hence Maximum Retail Price (MRP) i.e. including GST 12 % should not be more than Rs. 113.62 per 5 gm tube (MRP=Ceiling Price+GST). The firm overpriced the product. Firm charged excess of Rs. 21.37/- per 5 gm tube, which is a violation of Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 2013. Dr V. Balanaganjan, Assistant Director, Shameerpet, Dr. B. Lakshmi Narayana, Drugs Inspector, Uppal, G. Indira Priyadarshini, Drugs Inspector, Habsiguda, B. Mounika, Drugs Inspector, and P. Ambedkar, Drugs Inspector are among the officers who carried out the raid.
In another incident, on credible information, the officials raided the premises of a quack Bandi Saidi Reddy, at Azmapur Village, Pedda Adisherlapally Mandal, Nalgonda District, who was claiming himself as a ‘Rural Medical Practitioner’ and practicing medicine without proper qualification at his clinic. During the raid, DCA officials detected huge stocks of medicines found stocked at the premises without any drug license. 42 varieties of medicines, including Physician’s Samples and Expired Drugs, etc., were found stocked at the premises. DCA officials seized the stock, worth a total of Rs. 70,900 during the raid.
DCA officials detected several higher generation ‘antibiotics’ at the clinic during the raid. Indiscriminate sale of antibiotics, by unqualified persons may have disastrous consequences on the health of rural public, including emergence of ‘Antimicrobial Resistance’. K. Dass, Assistant Director, Nalgonda, J. Ashwin Kumar, Drugs Inspector, Miryalaguda and Ch. Anil Kumar, Drugs Inspector, Khammam Urban are among the officers who carried out the raid.
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