Expired drugs safer than fake ones: Karunanidhi

CHENNAI: The spurious medicines issue on Monday rocked the Assembly with the entire opposition advocating stringent punishment to perpetrators who were involved in the racket.

While the main opposition AIADMK demanded a CBI investigation into the issue and the resignation of Health Minister M R K Panneerselvam, the Congress suggested that the government should run pharmacies to ensure sale of genuine medicines. Members of various parties, including Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, expressed serious concern over the nominal punishment being given to those involved in the crime.

Replying to a discussion on the issue, the CM said the State government would not hesitate to seek a CBI probe if the crime had inter-State ramifications. However, he appealed to the members that “we should not become factors for creating a fear psychosis among the public by the way we express our views.” Stating that many of them who were involved in the heinous crime could not have been brought to books but for the serious action initiated by the government, Karunanidhi said fake medicines were more dangerous than expired drugs. “While fake drugs turn into a poison for the patient causing death, the expired drugs have no such effect…as such we should treat expired medicines as lesser evil than the fake drugs’’, Karunanidhi said.

Observing that the general tendency among the people was to blame the police for the action taken on any issue, he recalled that when the authorities seized huge quantities of black market rice, instead of appreciating the action, allegations were made against the government.

The CM said at present there were 539 drug manufacturing companies and about 42,500 retail and wholesale drug sellers in the State.

Last year, the Centre had introduced an amendment to ensure availability of quality medicines and to take serious action against the manufacturers of fake medicines.

The CM recalled that in the past, the punishment awarded to those involved in the crime, including Meenakshisundaram, the prime accused in the spurious medicine case, was nominal as only Rs.7,000 was levied as penalty and imprisonment till the raising of the court.