2 min readJul 4, 2012 04:38 AM IST
First published on: Jul 4, 2012 at 04:38 AM IST
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has slapped show-cause notices on as many as 115 chemists in the Pune division — of these 54 are from the city — for not maintaining records and prescriptions regarding the sale of abortion drugs.
FDA joint commissioner,Pune division,B R Masaal said the month-long inspection drive was necessitated after female foetuses were found in Beed district. The state health department cracked down on not only sonography and medical termination of pregnancy (MTP) centres but also on wholesale and retail chemists.
Masaal said 263 retail chemists,79 wholesalers and 78 doctors’ clinics were inspected in Pune division. Sex determination tests are usually conducted after the third month of pregnancy,hence officials carried out checks to see if the drugs were being sold for abortion of older foetuses. These are schedule H drugs and need a prescription,otherwise their sale is illegal.
So far,three FIRs have been registered and six persons arrested for illegal sale of abortion drugs. Pune division includes Pune,Kolhapur,Satara,Solapur and Sangli.
Meanwhile,the state health authorites found violations at 291 sonography centres and de-recognised 341 MTP centres in Maharashtra.
The drive began on June 5 and health officials inspected 6,843 sonography centres and 4,072 MTP centres.
Dr Asaram Khade,in charge of the state Pre-Conception and Pre Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PC-PNDT) Act Cell told The Indian Express at least 127 sonography centres were sealed and a majority of the discrepancies related to non-maintenance of medical records.
Most of the violations were found in the jurisdiction of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC),where 96 sonography centres had violated provisions of the PC-PNDT Act. In Nashik municipal limits,36 centres had violated the Act. There were 23 centres violating the law in Aurangabad,Nagpur had 15 and Hingoli had 10. Thirteen sonography machines were sealed on doctors’ requests,Khade said. Of the 341 de-recognised MTP centres,a majority (105) is from Thane Municipal Corporation ,followed by 57 from Nashik Municipal Corporation and 50 from BMC. In Akola,24 MTP centres were de-recognised. In Jalna,23 MTP centres were de-recognised for not keeping records.
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