TURA, Dec 5: The drive against worm infestation in children through the National Deworming Day provides children with a free tablet provided by the government, but the common deworming medicine “Albendazole” issued in Meghalaya, including Garo Hills, through schools, Anganwadi centres and even hospitals has been declared “Not of standard quality” by a government approved drug testing laboratory in Assam.
Hub News has obtained a copy of the letter issued by the drug inspector to hospitals in West Garo Hills calling for the withdrawal of the medicine from stocks on the basis of the test results from Assam.
The same medicine was also alleged to be in distribution in the Khasi and Jaintia Hills region, including state capital Shillong.
Shockingly, the Drug Inspector’s letter calling for its withdrawal, based on the test results, came to be issued on the 6th of November 2023, almost a month after the tablets were reportedly given out to children as part of the two phase deworm drive, this year.
The medicine in question- Albendazole tablets were manufactured by M/S Maxtar BIOGENEICS at Khasra No.725, village Malku Majra, Nalagarh Road, Baddi district Solan in Himachal Pradesh.
The government analyst Regional Drug Testing Laboratory in Guwahati, which is tasked with checking all samples of drugs procured by the state for use, had conducted tests on the efficacy of the Albendazole tablet and found that the samples did not conform to IP standards and was declared “Not of standard quality”.
The Inspector of Drugs, on receiving the test report, called for immediate halt to distribution of the medicine and recall of all shipments from government hospitals, namely Tura civil hospital and maternity hospital, but the order was apparently too late.
“Meghalaya does not have a testing laboratory in the state and hence all drugs are sent to Assam where there is a prolonged delay in obtaining the confirmation. In this case, it took 6 months to obtain the test results but immunization and other medical interventions cannot be stopped for so long, so the deworming went ahead,” says a medical officer.
In the face of no certified laboratory existing in Meghalaya, the state will continue to face delays in obtaining efficacy results because all drugs need to go for testing before administration.
The big question is who cleared the selection and distribution of the medicine without obtaining receipt of the quality control test result putting in jeopardy the health of countless children across the state, not to mention the crores of rupees spent on funding the program and procuring a “below standard” medicine that failed a drug test.
