Panaji: Goa’s Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) department has launched a probe into the procurement of
ketamine drug after a Russian traveller was found dead due to
its overdose.
“We have written to the police asking for details of the
ketamine found next to Russian’s body,” Salim Veljee, deputy
director, FDA said this morning.
He said that only after getting more details, it would
be possible to establish whether the ketamine was purchased in
the state or brought in from elsewhere.
A 36-year-old Russian traveller, Tesla Vladislav, was
found dead, last week, in a hotel at Calangute in North Goa. A
bottle containing sizeable quantity of Ketamine which can
double up as narcotics was found lying next to the body.
The Russian consulate last year had taken strong
cognisance of its nationals dying in the coastal state of Goa
on their vacations.
“We are monitoring the sale of ketamine at wholesalers'
and retailers' level to curb the misuse. There are 10 to 12
wholesalers who deal in this drug used as anaesthesia,” Veljee
said.
The state health authorities had recently cracked down
on pharmacies illegally selling ketamine.
Bureau Report
First Published: Sunday, November 15, 2009, 17:27