Pharmacist held for illegal sale of abortion drugs

PUNE,13 JUNE: A drug wholesaler in Pimpri was arrested on Tuesday for illegal sale of abortion drugs following an FIR lodged against him by the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA). The suspect found to have sold over 12,000 abortion pills against fake receipts in a span of one-and-a-half months, FDA officials said. "During a routine inspection drug inspector Savita Titre found that the wholesaler had sold 12,480 abortion pills - misoprost tablets of 200 mg - between April and May this year. When asked for the sale records, the wholesaler showed sale receipts issued in the names of two doctors from Nigdi and Bhosari. However, upon verification, it was found that the doctors were real but the sale receipts issued against their names were fake," said B R Masal, joint commissioner (drugs), FDA, Pune division. The inspection and verification process that started on Monday evening continued till late night. "We lodged the FIR with the police around midnight. The police arrested the suspect around 2 am on Tuesday," Masal said. The sale records of abortion drugs in all its forms and types are being inspected across the state in the wake of the female foeticide cases unearthed in Beed and surrounding areas. "The tablet misoprost contains the abortion-inducing drug misoprostol. It is an uterotonic drug, ie, the drug promotes uterine contractions to help expel the tissues that form the foetus in the first or second trimester of pregnancy. The tablet can abort second trimester pregnancy. This also happens to be the period when the sex of the foetus can be easily diagnosed with a sonography test," said gynaecologist Charuchandra Joshi, former president of the Obstetrics and Gynaecological Society, Pune branch. The Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) issued show-cause notices to 340 pharmacies and lodged first information reports against six chemists in the state in the last seven days for not maintaining proper sale record of abortion drugs. The FDA has initiated a search and seizure drive in the wake of incidents of female foeticide in Beed and surrounding areas. "Since June 6, our officials have inspected 997 medical stores, issued show-cause notices to 340 and lodged FIR against six chemists. The process of filing FIRs against three more chemists is on at Jalgaon (1) and Amaravati (2)," state FDA commissioner Mahesh Zagade told TOI on Tuesday. Among the six FIRs filed, five are lodged in Beed and one in Pimpri-Chinchwad. "Any medical store found at fault for over-the-counter sale of abortion drugs will have to face cancellation of licence. Besides, medical stores have to keep a record of doctors who prescribe such drugs, with their full address, so that further monitoring can be done," Zagade said. Zagade held a meeting of all joint commissioners (drugs) on June 5. The state-wide drive against illegal sale of abortion drugs has been started after that. "The search and seizure activity will continue on a regular basis now," Zagade said.

Times of India