Jaipur: Rajasthan Health Minister Gajendra Singh Khimsar on Wednesday ordered a factual inquiry into the alleged illegal sale of cancer injections supplied through the Rajasthan Medical Services Corporation Limited (RMSCL) to a government cancer hospital in Bikaner.
The injections were allegedly sold in Delhi.
Taking serious note of the matter, Khimsar directed officials to examine the entire supply chain of the medicines, including stock registers, indents, dispatch records and their distribution at the hospital level, according to an official statement.
He said black-marketing or unauthorised sale of expensive, life-saving medicines meant for patients at government hospitals would not be tolerated.
The minister said that if the inquiry found any irregularity, negligence or collusion at any stage in the supply of the government medicines, responsibility would be fixed and strict action taken against the officials and employees concerned.
Khimsar also directed officials to strengthen the system for the supply and distribution of government medicines and make it more transparent.
He said the availability and safe use of expensive medicines used to treat serious diseases such as cancer were being regularly monitored and necessary action in the present case would be taken on the basis of the inquiry.
The development came after vials from a batch of government-supplied cancer medicines surfaced in Delhi’s black market.
A batch of an expensive cancer medicine supplied through the Rajasthan government’s free-drug programme to four centres in the state surfaced in the Delhi black market recently.
Delhi Police have arrested members of an alleged interstate drug syndicate and seized several vials of costly cancer medicines. Four of the seized vials were supplied through RMSCL to a government hospital in Bikaner, police said.
