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Thousands
of pregnant women in Goa given inferior capsules: Report
Friday March 18, 2011 03:15:39 PM,
IANS
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Panaji:
Thousands of pregnant women in Goa were administered substandard
iron folic capsules from 2008 to 2010, the Comptroller Auditor
General (CAG) has said.
The CAG report, tabled Thursday during the budget session of the
state assembly, criticized the inefficient quality control
mechanisms of the health department that had resulted in the
procurement of 5.29 lakh substandard iron folic acid capsules of
which nearly four lakh tablets were administered to pregnant
women.
"It was observed that 5.29 lakh substandard capsules were utilized
by the health units and only 1.43 lakh were returned to the DHS (Directorate
of Health Services), its deputy director confirmed that the
tablets were utilised by the health centres," the report stated.
In its critique of the health department, the CAG report warned
the implications of consuming substandard medicines could be
hazardous.
Folic acid is globally acknowledged as an important nutrient
during the first phase of pregnancy and before conception as women
who are deficient in folic acid have a greater risk of having a
baby with defects such as spina bifida, a disorder caused by the
incomplete closing of the embryonic neural tube.
"The distribution of substandard medicines reflected inadequate
quality control mechanism and inefficient monitoring of
procurement and distribution," it said.
According to the report, the medicines were procured from two
companies Goa Antibiotics and Pharmaceuticals Limited, a public
sector undertaking run by the state government, and a Madhya
Pradesh-based firm Modern Laboratories Limited.
The report also pointed out that 30 percent of samples sourced
from medicines worth Rs.2.5 crore under the National Rural Health
Mission (NRHM) during the last five years were substandard.
"The FDA (Food and Drugs Authority), Goa collected samples on 10
occasions during 2009-10 and the results indicated that 30 percent
of the samples were of substandard quality," the report stated,
adding that a large quantity of the substandard medicine were
already distributed to field health units because of the delay in
the FDA test report submission.
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