India, Oct. 27 -- The Maharashtra government purchased eight counterfeit-drug detection machines to verify the quality of medications distributed through its health system across the state.

Worth Rs.1.2 crore each, these handheld devices can detect spurious tablets, syrups, and even injections within minutes. Using the reference drug constituents already set in the system, it will compare and match the ingredients of the sample drug to be tested.

"While Maharashtra became the first state to introduce this technology with eight devices, other states like Rajasthan are in the process of ordering 116 devices following spurious Oxytocin injections that claimed the lives of pregnant women earlier in July this year. Madhya Pradesh is expected...