Make names of banned drugs public: Congress MP to Govt

New Delhi: As the government banned about 350 fixed dose combination drugs, Congress member Rajeev Shukla on Wednesday expressed surprise that such medicines were being manufactured and sold for so many years and sought that the list of these drugs be made public.

"This is a serious matter. I believe that when government took action against 115 pharmaceutical companies, the full list (of the companies) should be made public as well as the names of the drugs," he said while raising the issue during the Zero Hour in Rajya Sabha.

He said several companies were manufacturing these medicines in violation of norms.

Citing reports that household names like Corex and Vicks Action 500 have been banned, Shukla said people should know the names of all such drugs which have been banned.

"While giving licences, the government should also look into what the drug companies make and what is their performance as it is a question of people's health," he added.

In a gazette notification on March 10, the government had, among others, banned manufacture, sale and distribution of fixed does combination of chlopheniramine maleate plus codiene syrup, which is used in cough syrups.

In another Zero Hour mention, Sukhendu Sekhar Roy (TMC) said the Centre had promised to release 25 files related to Subhash Chandra Bose every month, but "unfortunately in February no file was published". He demanded that the files should be released without any further delay.

Raising the issue of Tamil Nadu fishermen, AIADMK member S Muthukaruppan said they were being repeatedly arrested by Sri Lankan navy and argued that Indian Navy should "attack Sri Lankan Navy to protect fishermen".

Tiruchi Siva (DMK) too raised the issue of fishermen. He said in March alone, four incidents of arrest of fishermen by Sril Lanka has taken place.

In his Zero Hour mention, Manhendra Singh Mahra (Cong) raised the problems being faced Uttarakhand farmers due to draught. He demanded Rs 2,000 crore relief package from the Central government.