‘Strengthen DCA to weed out fake drugs’: Andhra Pradesh CM Jagan Mohan Reddy

VIJAYAWADA: Stressing the need to root out the menace of fake medicines, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday said  Drug Control Authority (DCA) should be strengthened in the interest of public health.

Jagan ordered the officials concerned to develop an action plan within a month for starting ‘Drug Control Vigilance and Intelligence’ wing.

The Chief Minister held a review meeting with officials of the DCA where he directed them to take action against those manufacturing and marketing fake medicines, strengthen laboratories, set up a vigilance and intelligence wing and penalise violators as part of the crackdown on fake medicines.

Jagan also instructed the officials to increase the testing capacity in the DCA laboratories at Vijayawada, Kurnool, and Visakhapatnam, where almost 13,000 samples can be tested.