Govt plans mini-labs at ports, airports to monitor drug quality

The Dollar Business Bureau

The government has announced it will soon set up mini drug-testing laboratories at ports and airports to check quality and authenticity of imported drugs.

The Health and Family Welfare Ministry has given nod to setting up mini-labs at ports and airports to monitor drugs that are imported into the country.

Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha that the decision has been taken to prevent illegal and substandard drug and strengthen the country’s drug regulatory structures.

"Necessary sanction has been issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to set up these labs," Sinha said.

He was responding to a question on whether the government would set up six small drug-testing laboratories at airports to maintain a check on the quality of drugs that are exported and imported so that smuggling of drugs could be prevented.

Smugglers import and exports drugs under the guise of medicine to bypass the airports and ports security systems.   

Two such mini labs are expected to be installed at the major ports of Navi Mumbai and Chennai. The remaining mini labs are planned at Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad airports.

Earlier, the government had indicated that it would also set up training academies for regulatory and drug-testing officials at the state and the central levels while bringing additional manpower for regulatory structures.