New Delhi, Oct 3 (IANS) Public and private sector hospitals should report to the health ministry the number of patients who seek treatment for adverse effects of spurious medicines, former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam said Monday.


"The ministry of health and family welfare should tell the public and private sector hospitals to report the cases where people suffer due to ill-effects of consuming spurious or fake drugs,” Kalam said here at a national consultation organised by not-for-profit organisation Partnership for Safe Medicines.

Chinese and Indian drug makers manufacture more than 80 percent of the active ingredients in drugs sold worldwide.

"There is a lack of adequate monitoring system in India. Drugs controllers and inspection agencies need to effectively monitor the cases which have been detected in different states,” Kalam added.

While the deputy drugs controller general of India (DCGI) said the rate of production of spurious medicines ranged between 0.3-0.4 percent, experts from the health sector said the figure was higher considering the situation in rural areas.

"Individually, it is very difficult for the drugs controllers to reach the remote parts and catch the manufacturers of counterfeit drugs. We really need help from police for crackdown on fake drugs companies,” said Deputy DGCI D. Roy.