Min. Dinesh Gundu Rao warns Centre against 9 injections which failed sterility tests in state labs
Bengaluru, Feb 21 (PTI): Karnataka Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao has said that nine injectable drugs manufactured in other states have failed the sterility tests done in the Karnataka government’s laboratories.
In a letter sent to the Union Health Minister J P Nadda, he said he has instructed officials of his department to take steps to ensure that these drugs are no longer sold in Karnataka.
The medicines that failed sterility tests are: Metronidazole injection manufactured by Pharma Impex Laboratories, Baruipur in West Bengal; Diclofenac Sodium Injection by Alpha Laboratories in Indore (MP); Dextrose injection by Rusoma Laboratories in Indore (MP); Metronidazole by IHL Lifesciences Private Limited in Khargone (MP); Frusemide by Paksons Pharmaceuticals at Bahadurgarh in Haryana; Piperacillin and Tazobactam by Modern Laboratories in Indore (MP); Calcium Gluconate and Ondansetron by Regain Laboratories at Hisar in Haryana; and Astropine Sulphate produced by Martin and Brown Biosciences at Solan in Himachal Pradesh, Dinesh Gundu Rao said in his letter sent on Thursday.
"I am writing to bring your attention to the repeated instances of sale within Karnataka of contaminated injectable drugs manufactured in other states," Rao wrote to Nadda.
Between 1 January 2025 and 16 February 2025, nine injectable drugs manufactured in other states failed ‘sterility testing’ in Karnataka government’s laboratories, he explained.
Sharing the details of the drugs along with batch numbers in his letter, Rao pointed out that the list did not include ‘numerous injectables’ manufactured by Paschim Banga Pharmaceuticals based in West Bengal, "whose contaminated injectables caused the deaths of five young mothers in Ballari district of Karnataka".
"While I am instructing my department to take adequate steps to ensure these drugs are no longer sold within Karnataka, it is highly likely that other contaminated drugs manufactured by these companies are being sold in other states in India,” the Minister said.
He said injectables are used in acute care and therefore are high risk to patients.
"Given the 'life or death' consequences for patients being administered these contaminated drugs, I request you to use your good offices to ensure that all products sold by these companies are withdrawn from the market across India and that these companies are not allowed to sell any more drugs until they are inspected by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) for compliance with Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP),” the Minister told Nadda.
He also requested the Union Minister to create a system for all states and central laboratories to share alerts with each other regarding drugs, which have failed quality testing, especially those failures which could potentially cause serious adverse events for patients.
"In addition to sharing alerts, there should also be a legal requirement to share sales records from the manufacturer to enable seizure of the contaminated drugs from the supply chain before they are dispensed to patients,” Rao said.
"Lastly, we need a system to alert doctors, pharmacists and patients about the drugs that are failing testing in our respective testing laboratories. My department would be glad to assist in this regard,” the Minister said.
I have written to Union Health Minister Shri @JPNadda regarding the repeated instances of contaminated injectable drugs from other states being sold in Karnataka. It is deeply concerning that unsafe medicines have entered our healthcare system, leading to tragic incident of loss… pic.twitter.com/ku7T5aampA
— Dinesh Gundu Rao/ದಿನೇಶ್ ಗುಂಡೂರಾವ್ (@dineshgrao) February 21, 2025
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Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
