Telangana DCA launches bulk drug SMS system alert to alert medical shops about substandard drugs

Telangana Drugs Control Administration launched a Bulk SMS Alert System to notify medical shops about Not of Standard Quality (NSQ) drugs. The system enables immediate stoppage, recall, and withdrawal of substandard medicines, enhancing patient safety and market transparency

Hyderabad: The Telangana Drugs Control Administration (TGDCA) launched a Bulk SMS Alert System related to Not of Standard Quality (NSQ) Drugs, commonly referred to as Substandard Drugs.

Through the SMS system, alert messages will be sent to all the medical shops in Telangana regarding NSQ drugs detected by DCA, to immediately alert them to stop the sale of such substandard drugs to the public.

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The drugs declared as NSQ by the Drugs Control Laboratory, Telangana, include those samples that have failed in quality tests for assay, disintegration, dissolution, etc., which may render these medicines ineffective in treating diseases. Thus, the SMS Drug Alert System enables the immediate stoppage of the sale and distribution of NSQ drugs and also facilitates rapid and effective recall of such drugs, DCA in a press release said.

The SMS system significantly enhances patient safety by ensuring that NSQ drugs are immediately withdrawn from the market before they reach a larger patient population. The digital transformation initiative is unique in that the details of NSQ declared drugs are readily communicated to all Sales Units, facilitating transparency and enabling prompt action by medical shops, DG, DCA, Shahnawaz Qasim, said.

The TGDCA is among very few regulatory bodies in the country to successfully implement the Bulk SMS Alert System, the DG, TGDCA added.