The alleged use of human as guinea pigs came to fore on Friday after 17 people from Churu district were reportedly admitted to Malpani Hospital in Vishwakarma Industrial area in Jaipur.
The Centre has sent a three-member team to Jaipur to inquire into an alleged unethical human clinical trial conducted by a pharma company at a private hospital in the Rajasthan capital, the Drugs Controller General of India said on Saturday.
The alleged use of human as guinea pigs came to fore on Friday after 17 people from Churu district were reportedly admitted to Malpani Hospital in Vishwakarma Industrial area in Jaipur. The "patients" who arrived at the hospital on Wednesday said they had been assured of accommodation, food and wages. The hospital has denied any illegal trials.
With the alleged malpractice triggering an uproar, the Rajasthan government also set up a four-member panel to investigate the matter. Late on Saturday, the committee members headed by Additional Director Dr Ravi Prakash Mathur visited the hospital and spent nearly five hours there checking documents.
"As per the hospital records, there were 38 packets of the medicine which were received but we got hold of only 35 packets in the inventory. The staff could not give a satisfactory reply about the missing packets," said Dr Ravi Prakash.
Hospital owner Dr Rajiv Malpani was not available for questioning, said Dr Prakash. "We will meet the victims for further investigation. The code name of the drug under trial is GRC 27864-201 with expiry date of April 30, 2019."
According to Sohan Lal, an 18-year old resident of Bidasar, 21 people were told about work being available at a medical camp in Jaipur. "We are aged between 18 and 45 years. We were asked to come to Jaipur with our Aadhaar cards," he said. The volunteers were assured of Rs 500 a day along with food and lodging.
Sujangarh resident Vimal Toshniwal, who played a key role in exposing the unethical practice, said they were trying to get a police complaint filed.
An estimated 2,800 people are said to have died as a result of clinical trials conducted by various pharmaceutical companies between 2005 and 2012 in India.
'DRUG MISSING'
Officials said there is a mismatch in the inventory at the hospital. The staff couldn’t explain few missing packets of a drug under trial, they said
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