LUCKNOW, Oct. 4 -- A statewide crackdown on medicine pricing has uncovered instances where hospital pharmacies allegedly bought medicines at substantially lower prices but charged patients close to the printed maximum retail price (MRP), prompting the Uttar Pradesh Food Safety and Drug Administration (FSDA) to seek explanations from hospitals, suppliers and manufacturers. According to an official release issued by the FSDA, the findings emerged during a special inspection campaign conducted on Saturday at 52 hospital pharmacies in 17 districts, including nine government medical colleges, 11 private medical colleges and 32 private hospitals. FSDA teams examined the entire pricing chain - the MRP printed by manufacturers, the price paid by pharmacies to suppliers and the final price charged to patients. Officials found cases where manufacturers had printed significantly higher MRPs even though pharmacies had procured the medicines at considerably lower prices. In some cases, patients were allegedly charged almost the full printed MRP without corresponding discounts, bringing the gap between procurement costs and patient billing under scrutiny, the release said. The department has begun issuing notices to the hospitals, suppliers and manufacturers concerned and is examining whether applicable provisions of the Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 2013, were complied with. The inspections also covered pharmacy licences, purchase and sale invoices, stock registers, addresses printed on bills and other statutory records. Officials detected discrepancies at several pharmacies in Lucknow, Varanasi and Noida, the release said. At a wholesale medicine firm operating from hospital premises in Lucknow, shortcomings were found in medicine storage and record maintenance, following which the sale of medicines was stopped. FSDA teams also checked whether qualified pharmacists were available and whether pharmacies had been properly mapped in the department's records. Shortcomings related to pharmacist presence and mapping were detected at a hospital pharmacy in Varanasi. The campaign also examined medicine storage conditions, particularly temperature monitoring and cold-chain arrangements. Deficiencies involving temperature loggers and cold-chain maintenance were reported at three hospital pharmacies in Lucknow and Noida. The department said notices were being issued in cases involving serious violations under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940....