39 pct medical stores in Nepal involved in illegal sales: report

Despite the government restrictions, more and more medical stores in Nepal are indulging in illegal sale of medicines that can be consumed or injected by drug abusers, a government report said on Friday.

The report issued on Friday stated that at least 39 percent of the medical dispensaries, operating in the country, have not been keeping accounts of medicines, classified by the government as narcotics or psychotropic substances.

The Department of Drug Administration (DDA) inspected 642 medical retail stores operating in 22 districts in the last fiscal year ended in mid-July, and found 249 shops failed to maintain sales records of medicines, which could be consumed or injected by drug abusers.

These drugs include codeine, nitrazepam, dextropropoxyphene, ethylmorphine, morphine, diazepam, tidigesic, buprenorphine, glutethiamide and pentazocine, among others.

During a similar inspection conducted by the government in the year 2004/05, the government found that only 6.2 percent of the outlets were engaged in such unlawful activity.

The report stated that of the 500 medical outlets inspected by the department in 2004/05, only 31 shops were found engaged in illegal sales of medicines classified as narcotics or psychotropic substances.

According to the statistics, around 2,400 wholesalers and 14, 000 retail medical outlets have registered their businesses with the government, of which around 800 wholesalers and more than 2, 000 retail stores are operating in the capital city, Kathmandu Valley.

Officials at DDA said the government has given permission to around 40 Nepali companies and more than 200 foreign companies to sell around 7,000 different brands.

Source: Xinhua