Gujarat’s Food and Drug Control Administration (FDCA) has permanently cancelled the drug sale licences of two linked businesses in Karjan, Vadodara district, after a raid turned up nearly 14,000 bottles of codeine cough syrup. In Surat, inspectors raided two sellers accused of pushing prescription medicines online without a licence or a doctor’s prescription. Health Minister Praful Pansheriya ordered the action, English Bombay Samachar reported on October 8.
The four cases point at two different problems. Karjan is about bulk diversion of habit-forming medicines. Surat is about medicines sold to anyone with a phone, with no pharmacist in the loop.
Karjan: a tip-off from Maharashtra
The Karjan raid began with information from the Maharashtra Narcotics Control Bureau. At Chamunda Pharma, officials found 13,938 bottles of Anrex codeine cough syrup, worth about Rs 27.8 lakh, and 12,240 Tramadol tablets worth around Rs 50,000, according to IANS and The Blunt Times. The FDCA sealed the firm and cancelled its wholesale licences (Forms 20-B and 21-B) with effect from October 1.
A linked retailer, Majisa Medical Stores, lost its retail licences from October 5. Inspectors reported Lomotil tablets in stock, no registered pharmacist on duty, and a switched-off refrigerator meant for temperature-sensitive medicines.
Codeine syrup and Tramadol both have legitimate uses. In stock of this size, sitting at a single wholesaler, they draw attention for a different reason: both are widely misused as intoxicants. Pansheriya said the department would plan a campaign to stop codeine syrups being misused by young people.
Surat: the online channel
In Varachha, inspectors raided Dermatics India on October 1 and accused it of selling medicines through its own website without a valid drug licence. They seized stock worth more than Rs 11.26 lakh, including Sildenafil, Minoxidil and Ketoconazole, and sent samples to the government drug laboratory in Vadodara. Court proceedings will depend on the lab results.
In Mota Varachha, Kyara International allegedly sold allopathic Sildenafil under an “Ayurvedic” label on platforms including Meesho, with digital records showing about Rs 3.60 lakh in sales in the previous month. Officials treated it as a repeat offence: the same person had faced licence action before for storing medicines without a licence. Pansheriya called the sale of allopathic drugs as Ayurvedic, or of prescription drugs without a prescription, a serious offence, and said a joint Cyber Cell and FDCA team will monitor e-commerce sites.
Part of a longer crackdown
The October action follows a larger round in August. At a review meeting in early September, the department reported that it had cancelled the sales licences of 50 drug firms, ordered two manufacturing units shut and suspended eight manufacturers’ licences, Outlook Business reported citing IANS. The latest cases add an online-monitoring layer that the August figures did not cover.
What it means if you buy medicines online
- A seller offering Sildenafil, or any other prescription drug, without asking for a prescription is breaking the law, and you have no assurance about what is in the strip.
- An “Ayurvedic” label on a product named after an allopathic molecule is a warning sign in itself, according to the minister’s own description of the Surat case.
- General marketplace listings are not pharmacies. A licensed pharmacy, online or offline, will display a drug licence number and ask for a prescription for scheduled medicines.
Parents in Vadodara and elsewhere also have reason to notice cough syrup bottles at home that nobody in the family was prescribed.
What to watch
The Vadodara laboratory’s report on the Dermatics India samples will decide whether that case goes to court. Watch for whether the Maharashtra link leads to arrests in either state, and for the first results of the Cyber Cell and FDCA online monitoring.
Sources: IANS via SocialNews, English Bombay Samachar, The Blunt Times, Outlook Business
This report was compiled and written with AI assistance from publicly reported sources, and reviewed for accuracy.