Director-General of Health Services Jagdish Prasad has defended Ranbaxy and endorsed the medicines made by the drug major. Prasad said no one has complained to the DGHS about the quality of medicines manufactured by the pharma major and that there were no pending enquiries against the company in India.

Not a quality issue

Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a summit organised by the CII and pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly on non-communicable diseases, Prasad said there are lots of misconceptions about Ranbaxy drugs.

“If you go into detail, even the Food and Drug Administration has not found fault with the quality and efficacy of drugs produced by Ranbaxy. There were some lacunae in the process of manufacturing, which were against the guidelines of the US regulator,” Prasad said.

Asked about the move by certain Indian hospitals to stop prescribing Ranbaxy medicines, Prasad said such steps are the result of misconceptions about Ranbaxy.

“Quality of Ranbaxy is incomparable,” he said and denied reports that the Government is also investigating the company. “We are not holding any inquiry,” he said.

Prevent illness

Earlier, addressing the summit, Prasad said that apart from making medicines, corporates should spend 10 per cent of their income on educating people on how to prevent illness as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility activities.

“Bill Gates can spend his money on healthcare in India. What is Reliance doing? What are Tatas doing? They should increase spending in the health sector,” Prasad said.

jigeesh.am@thehindu.co.in

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