Jaipur, Oct. 12 -- A Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report, released last month, revealed that 31% of retail pharmacies in the state were not inspected between 2016 and 2022, with the report raising fresh scrutiny over drug testing in the state following the deaths of four children allegedly caused by contaminated cough syrups. According to the report, published on September 4, the state drug control office failed to inspect around 29,665 pharmacies in the state between 2016 and 2022 as opposed to its inspection target to visit 94,800. As per norms prescribed in November 2019 by the Department of Medical, Health and Family Welfare, Government of Rajasthan, each drug control officer (DCO) is required to conduct 20 inspections of sales premises every month. The annual classification of the data also showed that the maximum of 42.80% shortfall to meet the inspection target was in 2016-2017, followed by 41.74% in 2018-19, 30.68% in 2020-21, 28.62% in 2019-20, 23.38% in 2017-18, and 23.31% in 2021-22. "The State Government stated (May 2023) that shortfall of inspections during 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 was due to the Covid pandemic," the CAG report stated. Commenting on the development, the health minister Gajendra Singh Khinvsar, said, "The government is putting effort to fill the gaps in the system and improve the infrastructure. No other government but the BJP has hired the maximum employees in the health sector so far. At least 23,000 people was employed in the last two years while another 27,000 are in pipeline."...