Maharashtra Becomes First State To Deploy Drug Detection Machines; Medicines Screened In A Minute

· Free Press Journal

Mumbai, October 26, 2026: Maharashtra has become the first state in the country to introduce portable drug detection machines that can screen medicines in about a minute and flag potential discrepancies in their chemical composition.

The state government has purchased eight Raman spectroscopy-based machines at Rs 1.2 crore each, spending a total of Rs 9.6 crore, to strengthen quality checks on medicines supplied to government hospitals.

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Launching the machines on Monday, Prakash Abitkar, Minister for Public Health and Family Welfare, said, “Ensuring the quality of medicines supplied to patients is essential across the public healthcare system. These machines will help identify suspicious medicines quickly and strengthen the monitoring of medicines supplied to government hospitals and other public healthcare facilities.”

Laboratory Testing To Confirm Suspected Defects

If a medicine is flagged during preliminary screening, its sample will be sent to a laboratory accredited by the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) for confirmatory testing. Action will be taken against the concerned pharmaceutical company as per the law, based on the laboratory report. In cases involving serious irregularities, the company may also face blacklisting.

The machines contain a database of around 5,000 medicines and can screen tablets, capsules, liquid medicines and cough syrups. The technology uses laser light to analyse a substance and generate its chemical fingerprint, which is compared with the expected formulation to identify possible discrepancies.

The preliminary screening will help officials identify suspicious medicines requiring further investigation. However, laboratory testing will be necessary to confirm suspected quality defects.

Eight Machines Deployed Across Maharashtra

The Public Health Department has trained 16 officials to operate the eight machines, with two officials assigned to each device, including a pharmacist. The equipment supplier will provide maintenance and technical support.

A flying squad has been formed to inspect medicines supplied to government hospitals and those administered to patients. Teams will visit district, sub-district and rural hospitals, along with other government healthcare facilities.

The machines have been deployed in Thane, Pune, Nagpur, Solapur, Kolhapur, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Amravati and Latur. Officials will cover government healthcare institutions under these locations to screen medicines and identify samples requiring laboratory testing.

Government Plans To Appoint 3,300 Doctors

Abitkar also announced that the government plans to appoint 3,300 doctors by the end of November to address staff shortages in government hospitals. In the first phase, 1,400 doctors, including 600 specialists and 800 MBBS graduates, are scheduled to be appointed in the first week of November.

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In the second phase, 1,900 candidates holding Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (BAMS) degrees are expected to be appointed as Community Health Officers by the end of November.

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