Legitimate Business is the basic right guaranteed by the constitution but illegal and fatal trade like selling counterfeit and spurious drugs is neither approved by the law nor by any religious institution. Why then, such a type of business flourishes in our society? It is the lure and avarice that instigates people to sell poison and kill people. It is a major concern as it destroys health and causes untimely deaths. Fake investigations or tests are also as hazardous as the prescription of spurious drugs.

In a shocking development, the European Alliance for Access to Safe Medicines reports, discovered relatively recently that counterfeit versions of lifesaving prescription medicines for cancer and serious cardiovascular diseases are also being sold to consumers online.
Developing and under developing countries are an obvious target for counterfeiters, because the cost of legitimate drugs may be beyond the reach of much of the population and legal controls are often weak. Analysts say the business of spurious drugs is not a new one to the world although it persists throughout the decades. World Health
The organization has given a new name to counterfeit medicines i.e. the substandard, spurious, falsely labelled, falsified, etc. A generic drug is a drug that is manufactured and delivered without copyright protection or marketed under its chemical name without advertising. Generic drugs are marketed under a non-brand name. Counterfeiting can apply to both branded and generic products and counterfeit products may include products with the wrong ingredients, without active ingredients, missing key ingredients, with insufficient active ingredients, improperly labeled, stored, or handled with fake packaging.
The trade of fake and poisonous drugs has a strong grip on Asian Countries particularly in China, Pakistan, and India. In India, J&K has become the paradise of this illicit and counterfeiting trade. And in J&K Kashmir is the nucleus of the trade of spurious medication. Various surveys, calculations, and figures were given out by J&K Drug and Control organization; show that out of total counterfeit medicines 81% are found in Kashmir. It implies that Kashmir is ahead in this trade and a safe abode for its promoters.
The illegal trade of spurious drugs continues unabated and everyday victims suffer and even die because of this immoral activity.
It seems there is a strong nexus between the drug mafia and shoddy pharma units that pump huge quantities of these drugs in the valley. It is because of this reason that Kashmir has become a haven for spurious drugs as the market is unregulated and unchecked. Reports suggest that Less than 1% of the drugs get scanned and more than 99% of drugs are without quality confirmation.
There is a Medical Supplies Corporation in JK to control the supply of fake drugs but it has lost its significance because it failed miserably to prevent the illicit supply. The tenders to supply medicine to Government hospitals are given to those companies who offer large supply at meager rates consequently the companies having Good Manufacturing Practice Certificate GMP fail to get the tender because they are unable to minimize the rates of quality medicines. This demand of low rate medicines encourages the manufacturing and marketing of unscrupulous medicines.
As the trade brings good fortune in a short period so people prefer this trade as a result we have a medical shop in every nook and corner of the UT. People apply for RMP and get it easily for some thousands of rupees. Later these people sell poison in villages towns and cities. In rural areas, these chemists work as physicians and treat people. The strangest thing is that these chemists are accepted as doctors who even don't know the ABC of the field. The shelves of every chemist are full of fake and poisonous drugs but nobody dares to speak against them. The amazing aspect of this trade is that people become wealthy overnight and enjoy a luxurious life. It is only because of selling duplicate medicines that people touch heights in terms of money.
There is a long chain of culprits who promote this inhuman and fatal trade through proper channels and offer a big bonanza to promoters and chemists. According to WHO the spectrum of counterfeit stocks entering markets has also expanded with the increased marketable use of the Internet to give a dizzying exhibition of both branded and generic drugs. In more than 50% of cases, medicines shopped over the Internet from illicit sites that hide their physical address be counterfeit.
Not only this but there is also a good number of laboratories that perform unauthorized investigations and issue fake findings. The prices for these tests are not fixed by the Government rather it depends upon the owner of the lab to decide the amount that fits his taste that is why there is a huge difference between rates of tests in Government institutes and private labs.
People are in a dilemma and with the administration to investigate the matter so that culprits who play with the lives of people are put behind the bars. Tenders for the supply of medicines to Government hospitals should be given only to GMP certificate holders. Overall it is a matter of health and wellbeing so there should be no compromise.
Every chemist's shop should be probed weakly and the list of unethical medicines should be disseminated via newspapers. Doctors are the learned people so it is their responsibility to oppose counterfeiting and abstain from prescribing spurious drugs.
Teachers are Nation-builders and doctors are guardians of health. Together they make the nation savvy and healthy

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