As per the reports coming in some unscrupulous traders in China are passing off fake drugs to African countries with a “Made in India” tag. The Indian Government was suspecting this to be the case but now it has definite evidence.

As per the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control of Nigeria issued a press release that a large consignment of generic anti malarial drugs labeled Made in India were in fact found to be produced in China.

Obviously India has registered a strong protest with the Chinese Mission and with the China’s Foreign Trade Ministry according to the source in the Commerce Ministry.

In fact the Indian high Commissioner in Nigeria Mahesh Sachdev had already written to the than Commerce Secretary GSK Pillai that while this is a case of one Chinese company exporting fake Made in India tag medicines it is unlikely to be an isolated case. He was concerned about not only Nigeria but also other African countries.

In fact the sources from the Commerce ministry said that they have been receiving complaints from Ghana, South and west Africa and Ivory Coast also where India has a substantial market share.

These fake medicines not only do a terrible harm to our interests, but also dents our image and at the same time makes us loose our legitimate market share. It also erodes the distinction between the generic and fake medicines that India has been campaigning for at the WHO and WTO.

After receiving this complaint of such a large international consignment the commerce Ministry is taking up the matter with the Chinese Ministry.

Dr. Mira Shiva of Initiative for health and Equity and Society was worried that since both China and India were large manufacturers of generics any news of fake medicines would give chance to other Multinationals who would jump at the chance at getting a foothold in the African markets.