Days after pharma major Ranbaxy courted a soup to escape a soup – and agreed to pay a penalty of $500 million in the United States on charges of fraud – one Mumbai hospital has already put an embargo on drugs manufactured by the company, while several others are reportedly toying with the idea.

While Jaslok Hospital, a leading medical institution in south Mumbai, has already put up a notice advising its doctors to avoid prescribing Ranbaxy drugs, Medanta Medicity’s chairman and managing director Naresh Trehan has said the Gurgaon hospital will “discuss” and “review the situation”, the Business Standard reports.

According to the report, a senior official of Apollo Hospitals said the group was reviewing the situation and would take action, if necessary, while a senior official at Breach Candy, another leading Mumbai hospital, told the paper, “We will be able to give you some update tomorrow.”

Meanwhile, the Indian Medical Association, which represents medical practitioners, has asked the Drug Controller General of India to investigate the quality of drugs manufactured and sold by Ranbaxy in India. (Read the report here).

Ranbaxy had to pay the penalty for selling adulterated drugs with intent to defraud and failing to report that its drugs failed to meet specifications, among other charges.

Under these circumstances, should hospitals and doctors follow Jaslok’s lead and voluntarily issue an embargo on Ranbaxy drugs till medicines manufactured by the company at its units in India get an all-clear signal?