India to reward whistleblowers to help fight spurious/fake drugs problems

India's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has acknowledged that spurious or fake drugs are sensitive issues affecting the health of the citizens as well as the prestige of the country's pharmaceutical trade interests, and there is a sense of urgency in tackling the menace.

There is no dearth of good intentioned people who may wish to work for the country's interests as the whistle blowers - or informers - in eradicating the menace, the Ministry noted. People's participation is imperative in this regard and would be a highly effective step in augmenting the efforts of taking on the elements engaged in such illicit trade of spurious drugs, it said.

With this aim in view, a scheme has been devised by the Central Government for giving monetary rewards to the whistleblowers who are willing to take the risk of providing information about the perpetrators of such crimes. A similar scheme is already operating in other enforcement departments of government which has paid good dividend in terms of significant catches/seizures.