Quality certificate for ayurvedic medicines

New Delhi, Aug 30 (IANS) The government has launched a voluntary quality certificate for the Rs.10,000 crore Indian ayurvedic drug industry to make it more competitive internationally, the Rajya Sabha was informed Tuesday.

In a written question, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare S. Gandhiselvan said the department of AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy) has collaborated with the Quality Council of India in issuing the quality certificate.

Till now, eight ayurvedic companies have got these certificates. The department comes under the health ministry.

‘This certification would enable industry to demonstrate compliance to international norms through independent, third party certification which would facilitate exports,’ he said

AYUSH Dr`s ill not prescribe Schedule HX Drugs ?

FC&DK objects to Schedule HX, proposes measure to prevent cross prescription and awareness for doctors

The Federation of Chemists & Druggists of Karnataka (FC&DK) has objected to the amendment on Schedule HX in Drugs and Cosmetics Rules 1945. It has now proposed to Union government on measures to prevent cross prescription and awareness for doctors. The move to amend the Drugs & Cosmetics Rules and insert Schedule HX comes in the wake of concern that there is a rampant over use of antibiotics in India and the resultant drug resistance. But the lack of doctors in the country especially in rural areas and general practitioners dispensing medicines to patients would still continue the irrational use of antibiotics, stated Ashokswamy Heroor, vice president of the Federation of Chemists and Druggists in Karnataka and president, Koppal District Chemists and Druggists Association and the President of Indian Pharmaceutical Association, Gangavati. To control this, the Federation has communicated to the Union Ministry of Health, to take cognizance of the fact that despite the Schedule HX, there could be gross misuse of antibiotic prescription by the doctors in the rural areas. Also the pharmacy outlets in the region which were used to dispense antibiotics without prescription was a huge menace. In this regard, there is need to implement certain polices in the interest of the public to ensure the total adherence to Schedule HX. The Federation recommends necessary action to be taken to stop the medical practices by non qualified persons. The government should delegate the necessary powers to medical officials and drug departments to control such practitioners, stated Heroor. Further, the Federation in its letter to the Central government has also insisted that qualified allopathy doctors should practice only in their qualified systems and refrain from prescribing the traditional systems of medicine like Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and Homeopathy. In the same way, doctors qualified in the traditional medicine should keep away from prescribing allopathy drugs. There is hardly any information on the adverse drug reactions and therefore the doctors of the two systems of medicine should ensure they do not prescribe drugs unrelated to their specialization. Multiple drugs increase the risk of adverse reactions. In addition, inappropriate use of antibiotics and other anti infectives cause in drug resistance and result in high morbidity and mortality. Although most of the drug information is made available, yet it is not properly utilized by the general practitioner. This results in cases of antibiotics overuse, indiscriminate use of injection, polypharmacy, excessive use of anabolic steroid for growth, tonics for malnutrition, etc. The overuse and misuse of antibiotics can cause adverse reaction and superbug infection which only increases the financial burden on the patient, pointed out Heroor. It is vital for the government to conduct the training or refresher courses annually for medical practitioners of all systems of medicine covering from allopathy to Ayurveda and Homeopathy to keep them updated on the latest trends in pharma and healthcare at sessions organized at various district headquarters, he said

Indian medicine students get a fillip

CHENNAI: Students of Indian medicine will be allowed to study modern medicine and surgery, health minister V S Vijay has said. The minister, who is also the pro-chancellor of the Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University, said that the university's decision to scrap allopathic contents from ayurveda, siddha and unani courses would be withdrawn.

The decision was made after the minister held a meeting with senior health department and university officials, practitioners of Indian systems of medicine and students at the secretariat on Monday. In July, the university had passed a resolution in the governing council revising the syllabus for Indian medicine. Vice-chancellor Dr Mayil Vahanan Natarajan said the university would remove surgery from the nomenclature of the degrees awarded to Indian medicine students. So, students would be only Bachelor of siddha/ unani/ ayurveda/ homeopathy medicine and not bachelor of siddha unani/ ayurveda/ homeopathy medicine and surgery. On August 17, the Central Council of Indian Medicine, a regulatory body, threatened to withdraw recognition to the state medical university.

Students of Indian medicine have been boycotting classes for a week as they feared their courses would be invalid. On Saturday, students approached commissioner for Indian medicine A Mohammed Aslam and argued that the council had allowed students of Indian medicine to study parts of modern medicine to enable them to become better doctors. But the university deleted surgery, pharmacology and large sections of orthopedics and ophthalmology. If the university is not recognized, students will not be registered as doctors, they said. 

Council member (siddha) Dr B Muthukumar said the university did not consider the views of the standing academic board. Six Indian medicine doctors, members of the board, advised the university not to delete allopathic contents from siddha, unani and ayurveda. "They chose to go with the views of six allopathic doctors," he said.

To end the stalemate between the university and the Indian medicine doctors the minister called the university officials for talks on Monday. "The syllabus and nomenclature are fixed by the Central Council of Indian Medicine. We told the university officials that they can't tamper with it," said Vijay.

"We have also told the Indian medicine students and doctors that they were being taught some parts of modern medicine only for the sake of acquiring knowledge and they can't prescribe allopathic medicines," he said. The University has asked the state government to list out the surgeries Indian medicine practitioners are permitted to do. "They shall not use allopathic anesthetic drugs," said university vice-chancellor Dr Natarajan.

Students of Indian medicine said they were happy with the health department's decision. "We will be back in classes from Tuesday," said R Thyagarajan, a student .

COURTESY NEWS: TOI