Fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic, incidents of sub-standard and falsified (SF) medical products increased by almost 47 per cent from 2020 to 2021, showed a report released by Authentication Solutions Providers' Association (ASPA), a non-profit organisation which deals with anti-counterfeit awareness.
The report stated that the noticed incidents were majorly related to COVID-19 related medical products, including vaccines, medicines, COVID test kits, antibiotics, face masks and sanitizers. During the COVID-19 peak, incidents of SF medical products were observed in 23 out of 29 states and 7 Union Territories of India.
"Criminals have seen the pandemic crisis as an opportunity to sell more and more substandard and falsified medical products, taking advantage of the vulnerability of the people in need. The tremendous adverse impact of the huge increase in circulation of spurious medicine and medical essentials on the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic has almost gone unnoticed. It is unfortunate as criminals produce ineffective or harmful products in packaging that appear identical to genuine products to make them difficult to detect,” Nakul Pasricha, President, ASPA, said.
“The circulation and use of these SF medical products violate the Right to Health and slows down the pace of providing quality health services that people deserve. It is high time for firm action to curb this menace. If preventive steps are taken now, we will be better positioned to deliver effective healthcare to patients,” Pasricha added.
Despite guidelines, the circulation of SF medical products has been an under-addressed/ under-tackled issue in India. The government recently took a decision to make QR Codes mandatory on Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs). APIs are the primary raw materials used in making medicines – capsules, tablets, syrups and others.
National authentication and traceability projects have been trending internationally for last few years, with China, Brazil, Turkey, the US, and the EU being the pioneers in this area. It has helped these countries reduce the shadow market in various industries, improved tax collection, and has also significantly reduced losses incurred by businesses from counterfeit products and illegal trade. India should also implement these measures in other sectors to join the league of advanced digital economies, the report observed.
Despite the union government’s efforts to provide genuine coronavirus vaccines through transparent procurement and supply systems and the technology-backed CoWin platform for administration, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) global surveillance and monitoring system for substandard and fake medical products in August 2021 had also identified fake versions of the COVID-19 vaccine Covishield in India and Uganda. The apex global public health agency this month also reported circulation of fake Remdisvir drug used for management of COVID-19.
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