The Gujarat Food and Drug Control Administration (FDCA) has seized sub-standard hand sanitisers worth of Rs. 50 lakh to curb its rampant unethical marketing during the lockdown period.
The latest and fifth in the series of raids was conducted in Palampur city based in North Gujarat where material worth of Rs nine lakh was seized based on its special drive of random sampling across the state.
As a part of the drive, total over 380 samples from the drug stores, hospitals and manufacturing sites were collected through random sampling. There are a total of 4,100 manufacturers of hand sanitisers in the state which includes allopathic, cosmetics and ayurvedic licences. Gujarat FDCA had earlier also suspended over 60 drug retail licenses for selling hand sanitizers meant for COVID-19 management at exorbitant prices.
A hand sanitiser having landing cost of Rs. 15 was sold at the arbitrary price of Rs. 25.The state drug regulator has also served show cause notices (SCNs) on the erring licensees. “We are constantly keeping a watch to curb illegal sale of poor quality hand sanitisers in the state,” said Gujarat FDCA Commissioner Dr H G Koshia.
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In order to tide over the shortage of hand sanitisers in the state and also in the country, the Gujarat government has exempted sale and distribution of ethanol for production of hand sanitisers. The exemption which was notified by the state government was done because the cost of isopropyl alcohol (IPA) which was Rs. 80 per litre earlier before the COVID 19 pandemic outbreak is being sold illegally at arbitrary price of Rs. 300 per litre.
The exemption was based on the recommendations of the state level committee headed by Gujarat FDCA Commissioner Dr H G Koshia. IPA is the most common and widely used disinfectant in pharmaceutical industry, hospitals, cleanrooms, electronics and medical device manufacturing. Prices of raw materials like IPA used in manufacturing of hand sanitisers surged 200 to 300 per cent in the wake of huge demand for hand antiseptics since the coronavirus outbreak in India.
According to scientific literature, alcohol based hand sanitisers are very effective in killing microbes which cause COVID-19 infection. One of the main disinfectants found in hand sanitizers is the isopropyl alcohol. The prices of IPA skyrocketed three times in a matter of few days. Besides this, the prices of plastic bottle, cap, spray pump have also increased almost by 200 to 300 per cent in the wake of huge scarcity.
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