Medicine QR Code: Many a times patients have to face physical discomfort due to counterfeit medicines. Presently there is no system or facility available to the consumers to identify counterfeit medicines. But soon the facility of QR code will come to verify the authenticity of medicines. After scanning the QR code, you will get the detailed information about the medicine. Initially this will be used for some medicines. In which medicines above 100 rupees will be included. Also, QR code will be implemented at the earliest for the most commonly used medicines. In fact the implementation of this experiment is pending for many years.
Will introduce a ‘track and trace’ system
To prevent this, the government plans to introduce a ‘track and trace’ system to check the use of counterfeit and substandard medicines and to verify the authenticity of medicines. Under this, in the first phase, pharmaceutical companies will affix barcodes or QR (Quick Response-QR) codes on the primary product packaging labels of 300 best-selling drugs. Primary products would include medicines sold in bottles, cans, jars.
Rise in cases of counterfeit drugs
Glenmark’s fake blood pressure pills busted in Buddy. Also, a few days back, the Telangana Drug Authority found the thyroid drug Thyronorm to be of poor quality. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 10% of medical products in low- and middle-income countries are substandard or counterfeit. So now it has been decided to start this ‘track and trace’ system with the government. Several options are being explored, including the establishment of a central database agency to provide a single barcode for the entire pharmaceutical industry. Implementation of this mechanism may take several weeks.
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