Deadly Silence: India's Negligent Pharma Manufacturing Units

Indian pharma manufacturing units are a ticking time bomb. Inflammable chemicals that require special handling are often callously used by ignorant workers leading to reactions, reactor blasts and deaths. Above it, ill-designed setups and less knowledge of hardware and software are taking a toll on the industry. Showing a lackadaisical attitude towards the way manufacturing sites are being operated, Indian pharma companies are at the receiving end of various domestic and global regulators. Overlooking safety issues will lead to more catastrophic events.

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India's growing pharma industry has a sordid tale to say. Amidst the hype of 'Pharmacy of the World,' discussions about tariffs and patent expiry leading to an opportunity for Indian pharma companies, hardly any discussions are held on the killer pharma manufacturing facilities. Unless and until something fatal happens.

A majority of the pharma companies seem to turn a blind eye to the lurking danger at its manufacturing sites across the country. So much so that lives are lost due to these catastrophic events.

Pharma manufacturing plants store chemicals, sometimes inflammable that are always at high risk. Reports of manufacturing plants not complying with safety standards are nothing new. Not following safety and other protocols becomes a free ride for the US FDA to issue warning letters. The US watchdog is notoriously known for issuing warning letters and somewhere the feeling comes that the agency does it right on certain occasions.

The Indian pharma industry has a history of incidents leading to deaths at manufacturing facilities with fire breakouts the common one.

Multiple incidents

The industry is marred with fire safety issues. Reports of fatality in pharma plants due to fire, inhaling toxic gas etc. happen quite often.

The recent blast at the Sigachi Industries plant at Pashamylaram in Telangana points out a disaster that is being compared with the Bhopal Gas Tragedy that happened way back in 1984. The powerful blast led to more than 40 dead and scores injured.

The management of Sigachi Industries was booked for culpable homicide. A criminal investigation is being pursued where there are allegations of gross negligence by the company. It is also being claimed that repeated warnings of outdated and unsafe machinery were ignored.