Taxis and other vehicles carrying passengers to various destinations of tourist interest like Sonamarg, Gulmarg, Pahalgam and other places plied normally throughout the Valley, as also the traffic on the Srinagar-Jammu highway. The state government has already asked the crime branch to probe the scam, which came to be an issue of great concern when it was found that antibiotic tablets purchased by a government-appointed purchase committee failed to meet prescribed standards when subjected to chemical analysis. The state vigilance commission has also been asked to probe the assets of the members of the government-appointed purchase committee involved in the alleged scam. Read more about the Kashmir drug scam here. 

Source: IANS

 Many people even argue that medicines sold at public retail shops in summer capital Srinagar and other places are also spurious.

 ‘One trusts nothing in Kashmir these days. If a committee of senior doctors appointed by the government can purchase fake drugs what stops retail drug shops from also selling spurious medicines,’ Gowhar Ahmad, 28, a government employee, told IANS. Interestingly, the alleged scam has not attracted any public attention in the Jammu region although the alleged fake antibiotic Maxizin 625 was supplied to all the hospital drug stores in 2010.

Now that the Valley doctors and also chemists are up in arms against the ‘scam’, the separatists have also started fishing in troubled waters. ‘They are supplying poison to the people of the Valley in the garb of medicines,’ alleged a senior separatist leader. While the separatist accusation is obviously far fetched, the fact remains that the ever suspecting Kashmiri is living out another nightmare of suspicion.

‘I purchased some medicine for my backache in Goa during this winter. It worked wonderfully. I bought the same brand in Srinagar and it does not work,’ Ali Muhammad Dar, 64, a brick kiln owner in central Badgam district, told IANS. The state government has handed over the investigations to the Crime Branch and also asked the vigilance department to probe the assets of members of the committee that approved the purchase of the fake antibiotic.

The accused persons are mostly owners or workers of the various pharmaceutical companies and no government officers is part of the list, although it’s pretty clear that such an elaborate scam wouldn’t have been possible without inside aid. The government handed over investigations to the Crime Branch but not before giving a clean chit to former state Health Minister Lal Sharma even though the Doctors Association of Kashmir (DAK) and other organizations were asking for him to be arrested and suspended.

Besides, the state government has blacklisted Life Line Pharmaco Surgical Ltd and cancelled its drug license for supplying sub-standard antibiotic medicines. In view of the gravity of the case the Union Health Ministry is separately investigating the case through Central Drug Standard Control Organization (CDSCO).

The scam came to light earlier this month when it was found that two life-saving drugs supplied to Kashmir hospitals were of substandard quality.  Further investigations showed that several other drugs, including injectable ones and even bandages and cotton supplied to hospital were not up to the mark. 

This followed inquiry by a high level committee set up by the government soon after the matter came to its notice during the budget session of the legislature. Though the former health minister wasn’t implicated the committee did note the various acts of omission and commission of officials among the various stakeholders – the Health Department, Government Medical College and the Associated Hospitals right from placing the orders to their receipt in stores.

Reports suggested that the supplier had obtained an order of Rs 11.35 lakh based on forged documents and he also got the drugs from a different source to the one that he was supposed to use. The government claims that supplier hoodwinked the government and also committed an offense under the Drugs and Cosmetic Act by supplying spurious drugs.

According to Inspector General of Crime Branch, a special team will look into the matter and take necessary action. Though no arrest has been made so far, these are likely to take place in next two-three days.

The government has charge-sheeted members of the purchase committee involving both the Director Health and Principal Government Medical College, Jammu for their role in allotment of the contract.  Similarly, officials of the Health and Government Medical College and its Associated Hospitals who received the drugs without verifying its credentials or those of the manufacturers will

The Former Health Minister Sham Lal Sharma denied any link with the company, saying that its owners appear to be migrants from Kashmir. The fake drug scam has raked up a storm in the Valley with Hurriyat Conference asking for strict punishment for people involved including the government. The Doctors Association of Kashmir (DAK) have also spoken out vehemently against the drug scam and asked for justice. 

He also instructed the authorities not to spare anybody involved in supplying spurious drugs and promised to take action against the accused. The decision to upgrade drug-testing laboratories in the current fiscal was also made and will be part of the official state plan and until the upgrade is complete, existing drug labs will work double-time.

The current fake drugs scam has been simmering in the valley for the last 10 days with reports showing that even after a drug called Curecef-1000 (Ceftriaxone) was found to sub-standard on three different occasions it was still being supplied to hospitals in the Valley including the GB Pant Paediatric hospital. Hurriyat Conference Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq claimed that these fake drugs had claimed 700 lives and the government would have to answer for that. On Saturday, he had called for a general strike to protest the fake drug scandal. 

At a press conference, President DAK, Dr Nisar-ul-Hassan termed the people of Kashmir as ‘most unfortunate’ and said that the drug mafia has started the process to ‘kill the people of state by giving them free poison in shape of drugs namely maximizen (Amoxycillin Trihydrate) manufactured by Affy Parenterals in Solan Himachal Pradesh and marketed by Medlay Labs Mumbai and distributed by Jammu based distributor namely Lifeline Pharmaceutical Traders and Surgicals Muthi Jammu.’ ‘There may be many more such drugs lying in the government hospitals which are not yet traced,’ he said. He called for street protests to bring the culprits behind the scam to justice. ‘This is a fight against murderers. I urge the people especially youth to come out on the roads to protest and force these murderers out of the sacred valley,’ he said. 

Dr Hassan said that it is a heinous crime and the culprits should be booked immediately. ‘These criminals and selfish people played with the lives of people. We don’t have the actual data about how many people might have consumed spurious drugs which are without salts and have no resistance against infection,’ he said. ‘This is the gist of the State Drug Policy. It is a shame and we have come to know now how far these people could go for personal benefits,’ he said.

Dr Hassan alleges that these drugs were purchased during Sharma’s tenure as Health Minister. DAK also blamed the state government for its failure in preventing the sale of spurious drugs.

 More skeletons tumbled out of the spurious drug business in the Valley yesterday with fresh documentary evidence which suggests that a life-saving drug was supplied all over the state even after three different reports claimed it was sub-standard. The drug named Curecef-1000 (Ceftriaxone) was first supplied to hospitals in 2011.

Were the top brass involved?

The DAK alleges that the scam involves top officials of the Health Department, Drug Controller Organisation and the pharmaceutical distributors. The DAK revealed that in the same year, a drug inspector named Imtiyaz Ahmed Shalla took a random sample and sent it to a drug testing facility which found hazardous particulate matter in it. DAK president Dr Nisar-ul-Hassan said the particulate matter found during the test can be glass, fibre, dust or cotton. ‘It can result in the instant death of a person.’ 

‘If water bodies are injected to a patient, instant death can happen to a patient,’ he said. The drug is manufactured by a Himachal Pradesh-based drug company, RH Laboratories, Gondapur Industrial Area, Paonta Sahib (HP).

Eight months later the same drug inspector took the sample of the Curecef-1000 (Ceftriaxone) and again the same results were found, but the injection continued to be supplied in hospitals in Kashmir. The inspector carried sent another sample from a different hospital on the same day which showed similar results but no action has been taken till now.

Were the sub-standard drugs responsible for GB Pant infant deaths?

The drug whose generic name is Ceftriaxone is used for children to treat pneumonia and also to prevent acute ear infections.  Last year, over 300 toddlers had died at the GB Pant hospital, the Valley’s only paediatric hospital.

 Hurriyat Conference Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq blamed the state government for the situation.   ‘It is believed that the deaths of the toddlers at G B Pant have occurred by the usage of fake drugs. Government is responsible for these deaths as they have adopted a lackadaisical approach in this regard. We cannot remain silent on this issue and the government will have to answer for the 700 deaths,’ he said. ‘It is not a small issue but a very serious one. Our state particularly the valley has become a hub of fake drugs. Scandals have been exposed and the ministers are hand in hand with these drug mafias,’ he said.

The Chairman asked for an impartial probe and said it was a shame that Muslims could be involved in taking the lives of innocents by putting the fake drugs on the market. ‘It is a shame on us that we call ourselves Muslims but take the lives of our brothers by supplying them with fake drugs. Profit is good but not at the cost of lives of our fellow brothers,’ he said. 

‘Doctors, pharmaceuticals and other people who are associated with this profession should desist from such activities which take innocent lives. We are also involved somewhere in these killings as we have stooped so low for monetary benefits,’ he said. ‘People should not do anything that is against the basic human values and Islam,’ he added.

‘We treat the infected people with tamiflu drug and the infection is treatable. But, prevention is always better,’ he said. ‘People must wash their hands often, avoid congested places, patients with proven H1N1 infection must not cough or sneeze directly. They must use a tissue paper while they cough or sneeze. Infected people should not attend social functions,’ the doctor advised. ‘Family members of the infected people must be constantly watched for H1N1 virus by carrying out tests on them.’ Last week, an employee of the super specialty Sher-e-Kashmir-Institute of Medical Sciences Soura (SKIMS) died of H1N1 infection while doctors there said they had successfully treated four others during the last five months.

Ever since the 2009 swine flu pandemic, the disease has become a seasonal one in India akin to dengue or malaria. Whenever, the temperature dips various states are affected by the virus. Last year, swine flu affected various states throughout the country including Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.

Simply covering your mouth while sneezing or coughing and/or wearing a mask isn’t enough to protect yourself from the virus.  The H1N1 virus is surprisingly resilent and can survive on door knobs, table tops and other contact surfaces for a  long time.

Prevention

Swine flu isn’t a disease that you can catch from pigs. It is in fact, a human virus that spreads from one human to another. The virus is extremely contagious. Here are some swine flu prevention tips: 

• It can spread through coughing and sneezing so always cover your face while doing so. And make sure people around you in office or home also follow this.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth too often
• Maintain a high level of personal hygiene. Always wash your hands before or after eating and particularly after returning from a public place.
• Sometimes virus can spread through droplets that have remained on surfaces of things like laptops, phones so avoid using someone else’s items.
• Avoid public places, unhygienic conditions, etc.
• If your city/area is swine-flu endemic, always wear a standard swine flu mask  in public places (the H-95 mask which is worn by nurses and doctors while collecting samples from swine flu victims). Normal surgical masks which sell like hot cakes during swine flu season might not give enough protection.
• If you feel sick and look like you are developing a cold or fever, stay at home and take enough rest. Rest has also been shown to increase ‘interferons’ which help our immunity to fight the virus better. Keeping away from others also prevents spread of the infection.

Also read: Swine flu: All you need to know

After inaugurating a medical camp in Jammu, Abdullah said, ‘We are nowhere close to giving proper healthcare to the people of the state.’ Doctors and para-medics were not delivering despite being provided with latest equipment, generators, training and everything, he said.

Referring to two infants’s deaths in a Baramulla hospital in north Kashmir, the chief minister said, ‘It is matter of anguish that both the infants died due to cold even though the hospitals have been provided with generators and staff given specialised training.’

‘If the doctors and nurses are getting salaries but are not performing their duties, they should leave jobs and not make a joke of the system,’ he said.

Source: IANS

Related news: Spectre of crib deaths returns to haunt the Valley

The hospital denied the charges levelled by the families and a probe has been ordered into the alleged negligence. One of the infants had septicaemia, a blood disorder while the other had a respiratory problem and were under observation at the newborn care unit.

‘Despite our repeated pleas to start the generator, the officials on duty remained unmoved. Both infants died due to the acute hypothermia (dangerously low body temperature),’ a newspaper quoted Tariq Ahmed, father of one of the infants, as saying. ‘We saw our babies dying in front of our eyes,’ Ahmed said. State health department director Saleem ur Rehma however believed that power failure couldn’t be the only cause of death.

 ‘There were three neonates under observation in the special unit on Friday. If what the parents say is true, then the third baby, who was more hypothermic than those who died, should not have survived,’  ‘While one baby died in the hospital, the other, with severe infection, was referred to a children’s hospital in Srinagar (about 45 km away),’ Rehman said. ‘The baby died at Pattan while on way to Srinagar. There is a time gap of two hours between the two deaths. We can’t say lack of power was the sole reason for the death,’ he added.

The discovery of the abandoned baby was reported to local police. ”Normally, such children are put up for adoption, which involves a legal procedure,” the superintendent said.  This is the fourth time this year that an abandoned baby girl has been found at this hospital. 

Source: IANS