DOLO-65O makers spent Rs 1,000 crore as 'freebies' for doctors to prescribe it

News Network
August 18, 2022

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New Delhi, Aug 18: The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Centre to file its response within 10 days on a PIL seeking directions to make pharmaceutical companies liable for giving freebies to doctors as an incentive to prescribe their drugs.

A bench of Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice AS Bopanna was informed that makers of Dolo-650 mg tablet had invested Rs 1,000 crore in freebies to have its anti-fever drug prescribed to patients.

The Central Board for Direct Taxes has accused makers of the Dolo-650 tablet of distributing freebies worth Rs 1,000 crore to doctors as consideration for prescribing the tablet, said senior advocate Sanjay Parikh, appearing for the Federation of Medical and Sales Representatives Association of India.

Justice DY Chandrachud remarked that it is a "serious issue" and said that even he has been prescribed the same tablet during COVID.

"This is not music to my ears. I was also asked to have the same when I had COVID. This is a serious issue and matter," Justice Chandrachud said.

Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj, appearing for the Centre, said that affidavit is almost ready and it will be filed.

The apex court then asked the Central government to file a reply within 10 days on the plea alleging unethical marketing practices by pharmaceutical companies in their dealings with healthcare professionals resulting in the prescription of excessive or irrational drugs and a push for high-cost or over-priced brands.

Earlier, the bench had issued notice to the Centre on the petition but it has not filed a response yet.

The plea claimed that there are abundant examples that show how corruption in the pharmaceutical sector endangers positive health outcomes and puts patients' health at risk.

There are abundant examples that show how corruption in the pharmaceutical sector endangers positive health outcomes and puts patients' health at risk, the petition has said.

The petition added that as violations of this kind have become a recurring phenomenon and are progressively becoming more pervasive, a Statutory Code of ethical marketing for the pharmaceutical industry, with penal consequences, be established to curb such practices for the enforcement of the Fundamental Right to Health of the people of India.

The petition also said that due to the voluntary nature of the existing Code, unethical practices continue to increase and have also surfaced during the COVID-19 times.

Hence, the petition urged to issue direction to give the Uniform Code of Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices a statutory basis and make it effective by providing a monitoring mechanism, transparency, accountability as well as consequences of violations.

The petition has urged to direct that till an effective law is enacted as prayed above, this court may lay down the guidelines to control and regulate unethical marketing practices by pharmaceutical companies or in the alternative make the existing Code binding with such modifications/additions as the court may find proper and reasonable, which should be followed by all the authorities/courts under Articles 32, 141, 142 and 144 of the Constitution.

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News Network
April 22,2024

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Some 62,000 Israeli settlers have fled areas in the northern sector of the 1948 Israeli-occupied lands amid fear of strikes by Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement in retaliation for the bloody onslaught on Gaza, latest reports have revealed.

Lebanon’s al-Mayadeen television news channel, citing Israeli media outlets, reported on Sunday evening that the number of settlers that have evacuated the area as a result of Hezbollah’s operations now stands at a staggering 62,000.

The report noted that 30,000 of the settlers have evacuated northern occupied Palestine on their own as fears are mounting among the residents that Hezbollah fighters continue to carry out daily operations with no signs that they are deterred by any action the Israeli army is taking.

Israeli media outlets further noted that 40% of the evacuees are considering no return to the region.

Moreover, 38% of those who voluntarily left the area, no longer intend to return to their previous places of residence in the northern occupied territories.

This comes as Hezbollah targeted a facility housing Israeli soldiers in the Shomera settlement earlier on Sunday with a barrage of rockets.

The Lebanese resistance group also struck surveillance devices newly installed around the Dovev military barracks, completely destroying the hardware.

Hezbollah said in a statement that it attacked the deployment positions of Israeli soldiers south of the Jal al-Alam site, using heavy-caliber Burkan (Volcano) missiles.

In another statement, the resistance group announced that its fighters struck surveillance equipment at the Misgav Am military site, which Israeli forces had lately re-positioned.

Surveillance equipment at the al-Malkiya base was also targeted and destroyed, it said, adding that the operation was carried out with a salvo of rockets.

The Israeli regime has repeatedly attacked southern Lebanon since October 7, when it launched a genocidal war on Gaza that has killed at least 34,097 Palestinians, most of them women and children.

In retaliation, Hezbollah has launched near-daily rocket attacks on Israeli positions.

At least 349 people have been killed on the Lebanese border, including 68 civilians.

Hezbollah has already fought off two Israeli wars against Lebanon in 2000 and 2006. The resistance forced the regime to retreat in both conflicts.

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News Network
April 30,2024

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Bengaluru, Apr 30: In a horrific incident, a quarrel between a 60-year-old woman and her 19-year-old daughter ended in the murder of the latter, after they both stabbed each other. The incident took place in Shastri Nagar in Banashankari police station limits in Bengaluru, on Monday evening.

The deceased has been identified as Sahitya, who had completed PUC this year. Her mother, who has sustained stab injuries, has been hospitalised. Police said the incident occurred around 7.30 pm, when a fight broke out between the mother and daughter at their house.

They both allegedly picked up knives and started stabbing each other. While the mother stabbed the daughter thrice in the neck and stomach, the daughter stabbed her mother four times. Hearing the commotion, the neighbours rushed to their house and alerted the police on seeing both of them lying in a pool of blood.

The police, who rushed to the scene, shifted both women to hospital, where Sahitya was declared brought dead. The mother, whose name was not revealed, is undergoing treatment. 

“As per the initial probe, only the two were living in the house. The reasons for the incident will be known only after the mother recovers and we record her statement,” the police said. The Banashankari police have registered a murder case and are further investigating.

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News Network
April 27,2024

The spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces has said it has carried out new operations against American and British targets in retaliation for their aggression on the country.

Brigadier General Yahya Saree said on Friday that Yemen’s naval forces struck a British oil tanker in the Red Sea with missiles.

Saree also said the military also shot down an American MQ-9 drone in Sa’ada province.

He added that the new operations were also a show of solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, amid the Israeli genocide there. 

“The Yemeni Armed Forces salute all the people of Yemen for their faithful response to the call of the fighter leader Sayyed Abdulmalik Badr El-Din Al-Houthi, may Allah protect him, in their unprecedented large-scale interaction in support of our oppressed brothers in the Gaza Strip, affirming support for the Armed Forces in their military operations against the ‘Israeli’ enemy and against the American-British aggression supporting it in the Red and Arabian Seas and the Indian Ocean,” Saree said.

He stressed that the Yemeni armed forces will continue operations in the Red and Arabian Seas as well as the Indian Ocean until the Western-backed Israeli genocide comes to a halt.

Since the start of the brutal campaign in Gaza, the regime has killed more than 34,300 Palestinians and injured over 77,000 others. It has cut off fuel, electricity, food and water to the more than two million Palestinians living there.

The Yemeni Armed Forces have been targeting Israeli vessels or those “associated” with the occupying regime in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea since October 7, 2023.

The regime ignited its bloody war machine in the besieged Palestinian territory on that October day in response to Operation Al-Aqsa Storm conducted by the resistance movement Hamas.

The maritime attacks have forced some of the world’s biggest shipping and oil companies to suspend transit through one of the world’s most important maritime trade routes.

Tankers are instead adding thousands of miles to international shipping routes by sailing around the continent of Africa rather than going through the Suez Canal.

The pro-Palestine maritime campaign has also prompted airstrikes by the US and its allies on Yemen – in violation of the Yemeni sovereignty and international law.

In consequence, Yemen’s armed forces have declared US and British vessels as legitimate targets.

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