Kota: The Rajasthan Drug Control Department has cancelled the wholesale licence of Kota-based distributor Rajasthan Medical Hall for allegedly supplying spurious oxytocin injections to govt hospitals, where five women died following caesarean deliveries in May. The action comes amid an ongoing investigation into an alleged fake drug supply chain and its possible role in the maternal deaths reported between May 5 and May 17 at JK Lone Hospital and the Super Speciality Wing of Govt Medical College, Kota. According to a June 23 order issued by Assistant Drug Controller Devendra Garg, laboratory analysis of samples of Tosin-brand oxytocin injections supplied to hospitals found the oxytocin content to be nil, rendering the injections ineffective. Drug control authorities inspected the firm’s premises in Kota’s Indraprastha Industrial Area on May 19 and allegedly found suspected fake oxytocin injections along with several violations of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act and Rules. The department also cited discrepancies in procurement and sales records. Investigators found that the distributor had purchased 9,300 doses from Amritsar-based Jackson Laboratories but recorded sales of 10,050 doses, leaving an unexplained difference of 750 injections. Officials said the firm’s authorised representative, Shadab Khan, was absent during the inspection, while proprietor Mahesh Mittal was allegedly handling medicine distribution. A show-cause notice issued on May 21 failed to elicit a satisfactory explanation, the order said. The department concluded that the supply of substandard or spurious drugs, coupled with irregularities in record-keeping and distribution, warranted cancellation of the wholesale licence. Earlier, the department had revoked the manufacturing licence of Jackson Laboratories and banned the sale and use of TOCIN (oxytocin Injection 5 ml) after a sample failed quality tests. The drug was among 20 samples collected from Govt New Medical College Hospital and JK Lone Hospital; the remaining 19 samples complied with quality norms.
