Maharashtra: The Naupada police has arrested a pharmacist and the partner of the pharmacy for selling fake drugs meant for animals.
The Lifecare Medico pharmacy situated in Naupada, Thane has been allegedly selling animal drugs to patients. The pharmacy has been booked by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) department.
The FDA has served notices to cancel the license of the pharmacy when the department came across grave irregularity during a regular inspection said the Girish Hukare, Assistant commissioner (medicine).
He added, “On October 24, our officers were conducting a check inside the pharma store and saw 82 of these incorrectly labelled. The top layer of the label stated that it was for humans, while on the inner sticker it was written that the dosage was for animal treatment and not for human use. We are looking into the case and have seized around 3,000 such drugs from a few distributors in Thane and a wholesaler in Ghaziabad. We are also making inquiries with the manufacturer located in Punjab to verify if it was a labeling mistake.”
The drug Oxytocin is issued to pregnant women post delivery in case of excessive bleeding or to induce labour pains claimed the officials.
“We are looking into the sale and as to how many hospitals it was sold to. So far we have not come across any medical complaints,” said Hukare.
However, the partner, Ravindra Shirole and pharmacist Lalita Jhinzad both caimed they were unaware of the drug being mislabeled and sold.
Investigations into the matter are underway.