Kolkata: Bengal government had sought a report from the Uttar Pradesh government about some fake medicines, the consignments of which were sent to Bengal but the Yogi Adityanath government has not yet been cooperating with the state when it comes to sharing data. Hence, the state government has decided to send another letter to the Uttar Pradesh government in this regard. The consignments of fake medicines came to Kolkata in buses from the states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha. During the investigation, several links were established which suggest that multiple organisations in UP are involved. State government sought information relating to the places and companies whose names cropped up in connection with the fake medicines. But the reply of the UP government has not been satisfactory, sources said. State drug control officials will take help from the drug control departments from other states as well to crack down on the interstate fake medicines rackets which have been operating for some time now.
State drug control has already carried out raids in four medicine shops in Kolkata. In the wake of a series of fake medicines being recovered from various parts of the state, the Directorate of Drug Control in Bengal has published phone numbers so that people can directly call at these numbers to draw the attention of the authority if they suspect any strips of medicines or bottle to be fake. The numbers are 033 2225-2213/ 033 2225-2214. Trinamool Congress has recently blamed the BJP-led government at the Centre for its failure to check the circulation of fake medicines in the market. The ruling party in Bengal had raised a series of questions as to how these fake medicines were sold in the Indian market when there is a regulatory body — the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO). It further stated that no drugs are sold in the market unless they get approval of CDSCO which is under the Union Health Ministry.