  We buy medicines when our health
ailments force us to do so. Hence, medicines connote our desire to defeat disease
and attain good health. But all medicines are not created equal. Spurious medicines
thwart our journey towards good health, and sometimes extinguish hopes of recovery
and lives too. According to the WHO definition, a counterfeit is a “a medicine which
is deliberately and fraudulently mislabelled with respect to identity and/or source.
How big is the bazaar of spurious medicines?
World Health Organisation indicates that fake medicines constitute 30 percent of
the medicines sold in developing countries. Any medicine that you can think of has a fake, including the popular brands. So you have a fake to provide relief for any
malady occurring under the sun from asthma, diarrohea, malaria to flagging libido.
- Spurious medicines just like counterfeit currency are almost impossible
for the consumer to detect. Often, they are made in the backyard laboratories under
unhygienic conditions.
- These killer medicines can contain anything—fraction of chemical composition of
the actual drug, distilled water, turmeric and flour (if you are fortunate, because
you might survive these) to potentially dangerous anti-freeze and toxic solvents.
- The current menace of antibiotic resistance stems from antibiotic abuse as well
counterfeit antibiotics available in weaker strength.
- These killer medicines hurt sick and poor—the most vulnerable people and the evidence
of crime often disappears with the death of the patient, after consuming these deadly
concoctions.
The most touching aspect of the menace of spurious medicines is that killers go
scot free, manufacturing more and holding lives of more and more people at ransom.
Obnoxious nexus
If you have ever sold household junk, consisting of empty medicine vials and bottles
to the kabadiwaala, you are the tiniest link of this obnoxious nexus. Higher placed
on this nexus are chemists and quacks and they connive together to push these lethal
potions to the ignorant customers. It is no coincidence that rural India has become
a dumping ground for spurious medicines.
Guidelines for disposal of medicines, used bottles and vials
- Drain the liquid of unused medicines. Crush tablets and capsules, and tear tubes
/ containers of ointments / cream before throwing into garbage.
- Always thoroughly deface the label and destroy the container after the medicine
has been consumed and / or disposed.
- Never sell empty container of medicines in scrap.
You can curb the menace of spurious by becoming aware.
- Insist on a bill whenever you buy medicines
- Tally the bill against details on the label, especially batch number and expiry
date.
- Stay away from unrealistic discount
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