Srinagar, May 15: Minister for Health, Sham Lal Sharma on Sunday said that Drug Policy would be implemented shortly to check sale of spurious drugs while as efforts are on to set up a nursing council in the State.
 The Minister was addressing at a conference organized by All India Organization of Chemists and Druggists here at SKICC today. The Minister said the Government has formulated the Drug Policy which will be implemented shortly.
  “The State has reeled under turmoil for about two decades and despite of this health sector is growing considerably. It is a social responsibility of drug companies to manufacture quality drugs to ensure the safety of the patients. The Chemists and Druggists must strictly implement the Drug Policy. We have geared up the departmental machinery to check sale of spurious drugs and 64 drug inspectors have been appointed for the purpose,” the Minister said.
 The Minister said the Government has taken several initiatives to create proper health infrastructure in the State.
 On the occasion, the Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy, Dr. Farooq Abdullah called for holding awareness camps in rural areas about the usage of medicines. “People living in rural areas have little knowledge about importance of manufacture and expiry date of medicines and make bulk purchase of medicines to save frequent traveling of long distances for fetching medicines,” Dr Farooq said. 
 Minister of State for Health and R&B, Javed Ahmed Dar said that a large number of youth have become drug addicts and asked chemists to stop sale of such medicines without prescription.

Lastupdate on : Sun, 15 May 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 15 May 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Mon, 16 May 2011 00:00:00 IST