The state-owned Meghalaya Medical Drugs and Services Ltd (MMDS) has clarified news reports about the supposedly unsafe nature of deworming medication in the state.
According to recent reports, an Assam-based drug testing lab found that Albendazole tablets, used to treat parasitic worm infections, were “not of standard quality”.
However, MMDS today said that this finding came about in October from the Regional Drug Testing Lab in Assam and an “immediate directive” was issued to halt distribution of the specific batch of medicines.
Following this, a “comprehensive quality reassessment” was carried out in November by the quality control division of MMDS, which drew samples from warehouses and sent them for testing to an accredited laboratory in Kolkata. Here, the drugs were found to be of satisfactory quality.
“The comprehensive testing procedures involved tests in two NABL (National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories) labs and one manufacturer’s in-house lab,” MMDS Managing Director Ramkumar S said in a release today. “All these labs confirmed that the drugs met the quality, efficacy and safety standards”.
No adverse reactions have been reported concerning use of the batch in question, the release added.
“The government takes utmost seriousness on quality of medicines to ensure proper services to people in a timely manner,” Ramkumar added.