A public interest litigation petition has been filed in the Madras High Court to restrain the Drugs Controller General of India as well as the State government from allowing import of spurious and substandard infrared thermometers from China.
Justices R. Subbiah and Krishnan Ramasamy on Friday ordered notices, returnable by two weeks, to both the respondents. Advocate G.B. Motcham had filed the case also seeking a direction to procure only thermometers that conform to Indian Standards.
In an affidavit filed through his counsel M.C. Swamy and J. Kather Hussain, the litigant said, infrared thermometers had become a necessity especially during the times of COVID-19 and the need for the devices would grow exponentially in future too.
This had led to flooding of the market with poor quality Chinese thermometers which cost around Rs.1,500 as against Rs.8,000 charged for good quality thermometers. The low priced thermometers with faulty sensors end up showing wrong results, he claimed.
The litigant also cited a news report in The Hindu Business Line on June 19 to support his claim that a majority of medical devices used in the country were imported and that 11% of them were from China, according to the latest figures of Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
