Mangaluru, Sept 7: With food safety inspections already underway across Karnataka, the state will now continue to intensify checks on the safety and sale of medicines, Health and Family Welfare Minister and Dakshina Kannada district in-charge minister U.T. Khader said on Monday.

Speaking to reporters at Praja Soudha in Mangaluru, Khader said a QR code-based system had been introduced to enable the public to lodge complaints concerning both food and medicines.

He said complaints had recently been received against two or three pharmaceutical companies over issues including the sale of expired medicines, mislabelling and excessive pricing. Following the complaints, officials conducted inspections and imposed fines, he said.

“Pricing regulation is a matter for the concerned authorities. In some cases, even the medicines did not have proper MRP details,” Khader said, adding that such issues could have a direct impact on public health.

Khader said he would hold a meeting with officials in Bengaluru on Tuesday to review the matter and discuss further action.

He also said the regulation of certain aspects of medicine sales and supply falls under the jurisdiction of the Union government. The state would place the details of the issues before the Centre and seek appropriate intervention, he said.

“Even though some of these matters do not come directly under our jurisdiction, the Centre should take note of the situation and initiate necessary action,” Khader said.

The minister said the meeting had been convened to examine the issues in detail and discuss measures to strengthen safeguards against the sale of unsafe, improperly labelled or overpriced medicines.