China launches quiet drive against companies exporting adulterated, fake materials in bid to arrest anti-Beijing sentiments

New Delhi: After rejecting global concerns over faulty coronavirus test kits and poor quality of medical devices for weeks, China, it would seem, is now trying to cover up the fiasco in order to contain further backlash. China has quietly launched a clean-up drive against medical device manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, etc, after admitting that its reputation depends on quality of medical supplies required for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of the deadly outbreak that has infected over 36 lakh people people and killed over 2.5 lakh globally. [caption id=“attachment_8339141” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] A file image of workers packing surgical masks at a factory in Suining city in southwest China’s Sichuan province. AP[/caption] Since late March when the first report of substandard medical supplies being exported by China surfaced in Spain, authorities in Beijing have been on an offensive and have even blamed other countries for inadequate training and poor handling of coronavirus outbreak. China also made efforts to counter reports emanating from Spain, Turkey, the Netherlands, Britain, Czech Republic, Slovakia, US and Georgia about the poor quality of medical supplies. It even slammed India’s decision to stop using faulty rapid test kits saying it was unfair and irresponsible. But, the bullying didn’t work for long. The Chinese Food and Drug Administration has now launched a drive to prepare a list of pharmaceutical exporters for frequent inspection of supplies and to ensure severe punishment for substandard medical equipment and drugs. The details of a meeting of Chinese Food and Drug Administration establishes its admission of poor quality of supplies and existence of firms involved in manufacturing counterfeit products. The Chinese department has approved severe penalty for exporters supplying inferior quality products and has asked the local drug regulatory department to shut down the manufacturing units producing substandard medical supplies. “Anyone who has evidence that there is a problem with the quality of the exported medicines should immediately stop production and sales, investigate the problem, and thoroughly correct it. Severely punish the violations. Start crack down on illegal production and sale of counterfeit and inferior drugs, punish people and form a high-pressure situation for a deterrent effect. At the same time, under the premise of legal compliance, the drug regulatory department should provide policy guidance and assistance to drug export enterprises that are honest and law-abiding as much as possible to ensure the quality of exported drugs,” the Chinese Food and Drug Administration said. Jayadeva Ranade, former Additional Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat and the president of the Centre for China Analysis and Strategy told Firstpost that the Chinese have realised that threats and bullying will backfire and now they are trying to show the world that action is being taken against companies involved in producing substandard material. “The move is basically to counter what the Chinese perceive as foreign propaganda against their companies. Initially, they sidestepped the issue of poor quality by claiming that China was helping the world in the hour of need. But, in fact, it was a huge business opportunity for them. Chinese customs had recently put out a figure regarding export of anti-epidemic materials between March-April 2020 which is worth more than 71 billion Yuan (approx $10 billion),” Ranade said. The epidemic business has definitely soared for China. According to Chinese customs statistics, from 1 March to 30 April, the country exported a total of 71.2 billion Yuan of major anti-epidemic medical supplies including 27.8 billion masks, 130 million protective clothing, 73.41 million new coronavirus detection kits, 12.57 million infrared thermometers, 49,100 ventilators, 1,24,000 patient monitors, 43.63 million pairs of goggles and 854 million pairs of surgical gloves. China’s General Administration of Customs on 1 May said the agency will increase the investigation into export of substandard medical supplies. “The Customs will stop and confiscate the export of goods that are adulterated, fake, substandard and unqualified goods posing as qualified goods,” it said. The statements from different Chinese agencies have a single message — China’s reputation is at stake at a time when the countries around the world are battling coronavirus. China’s Food and Drug Administration said the quality of exported medicines is directly related to the China’s national reputation and the drug control department should strictly and meticulously implement the requirements of quality control of exported pharmaceuticals. However, Indian scientists and experts are raising the questions over giving preference to Chinese imports rather than encouraging Indian companies to produce medical supplies needed to fight the coronavirus pandemic. Dr Jacob John, former chief of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Centre for Advanced Research in Virology said, India should have gone for sample test before placing bulk orders with Chinese companies. “You can test the quality of a sample kit within a day or two and once satisfied, order should have been placed. Moreover, we should have avoided buying from China. The bulk import was at the cost of fully capable indigenous companies. I think we knew fully well that there would be quality risk. There has to be a probe whether such decision was taken judiciously after talking to Indian companies and scientists. We should have given our own scientists and pharmaceuticals companies a chance to produce the required materials,” Dr John said. Earlier, China had defended reports of poor quality of medical devices arguing that it was exported by companies with qualifications and credibility. However, it has now launched a clean-up drive both online and offline with a fresh verification of registration of medical device manufacturers, quality and safety monitoring, and product quality. Seeking severe crackdown on illegal device manufacturers, the Chinese quality control agency has pledged punishment for Chinese firms filing false device product information, falsifying the statutory requirements and refusing to cooperate with drug regulatory authorities. The stringent rules would be applicable to Chinese device manufacturers involved in online sale. “Medical device network enterprises must ensure that the information is true, accurate, complete, and traceable, and meets the requirements of laws and regulations. The plan is clear, the local drug regulatory authorities at all levels should increase the monitoring and disposal of medical device network sales, and promptly investigate and deal with the illegal (device manufacturers) through network monitoring, public opinion monitoring, complaint reporting, etc,” Food and Drug Administration of China meeting details revealed. The local authorities in China have also been asked to keep a track of all the exporting pharmaceutical companies in their jurisdiction and comprehensively strengthen the supervision. They will also follow the strict export certification to ensure that the quality of exported supplies meets the requirement of importing countries. Chinese authorities are also re-calibrating their response to criticism from European countries on substandard supplies, and setting up new rules and facilitating the Chinese exporters to meet the requirements of European Commission on medical devices. In a bid to control the damage, the Chinese State Administration for Market Regulation has issued a guideline for export of medical devices marketed in the European countries. The guideline has asked the Chinese manufacturers to conform the European Union’s medical device directive and medical device regulation and work closely with EU-authorised representatives for better compliance with requirements.