The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has expressed grave concern over the proliferation of "spurious" and "substandard drugs" that pose a serious threat to life.

At an open house discussion here on "Measures to curb spurious medicines in India", NHRC member Justice Bidyut Ranjan Sarangi said in a country as vast and diverse as India, even isolated regulatory challenges could translate into large-scale human distress if not addressed decisively and systematically.

He said the growing threat posed by spurious, substandard and falsified medicines and its direct implications on the right to life and health, demanded coordinated, multi-sectoral action to address this grave issue of human rights violation.

Vijaya Bharathi Sayani, another NHRC member, reflected on the human cost of substandard treatment. She recalled how a member of her family suffered permanent loss of eyesight because of improper treatment and the use of poor-quality medicines. She said the issue needed to be urgently addressed by strengthening supervision and accountability mechanisms in the pharmaceutical ecosystem.

Former NHRC member Rajiv Jain said strengthening enforcement and deterrence would require the establishment of special drug courts for expeditious trial of the accused, real-time drug testing mechanisms, mandatory QR codes and track-and-trace systems.

NHRC secretary-general Shri Bharat Lal said people consumed medicines in good faith, trusting the State’s obligation to safeguard life and dignity, and cautioned that any breach might result in the violation of human rights.