The Press Information Bureau has released a press release on 13th December, 2022 on the assurance of quality control of ayush drugs. In this context, the ministry of Ayush has taken various steps for assured quality control of AYUSH drugs in the country. These steps are as follows:
i. Schemes to support ayurvedic medicines production
A. Strengthening and up-gradation of Ayush Pharmacies and Drug Testing Laboratories to achieve higher standards.
B. Pharmacovigilance of ASU&H drugs including surveillance of misleading advertisements.
C. Strengthening of Central and State regulatory frameworks including Technical Human Resource & Capacity Building programs for Ayush drugs.
D. Support for development of standards and accreditation/ certification of Ayush products & materials in collaboration with Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), Quality Control of India (QCI) and other relevant scientific institutions and industrial R&D centres.Pharmacopoeia Commission for Indian Medicine & Homoeopathy (PCIM&H) lays down Pharmacopeial Standards and Formulary specifications for Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and Homoeopathy (ASU&H) drugs.
ii. Pharmacopoeia Commission for Indian Medicine & Homoeopathy (PCIM&H) lays down Pharmacopeial Standards and Formulary specifications for Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and Homoeopathy (ASU&H) drugs. Further, PCIM&H also receives the samples from Government agencies for ascertaining their quality.
In 2021, Pharmacopoeia Commission for Indian Medicine & Homoeopathy (PCIM&H), Ghaziabad signed a MoU with American Herbal Pharmacopeia, United States of America (USA) for developing standards of Ayurveda and other Indian systems of medicine on international standards. PCIM&H has also signed a MoU with Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC) for developing “ONE HERB ONE STANDARD”.
iii. In addition to the above, for facilitating exports, Ministry of Ayush encourages certain certifications of AYUSH products.
iv. 27 State Drug Testing Laboratories have been supported for strengthening their infrastructural and functional capacity. Currently, 81 laboratories are approved or licensed under the provisions of Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945 for quality testing of Ayurvedic, Siddha and Unani drugs and raw materials.
v. Pharmacovigilance Centres for ASU&H Drugs set up in different parts of the country under the Central Scheme of Ministry of Ayush are mandated to monitor and report the misleading advertisements to the respective State Regulatory Authorities.
All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA) is the National Pharmacovigilance Co-ordination Centre (NPvCC) for the implementation of the National Pharmacovigilance program for Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani & Homoeopathy drugs. Objectionable advertisements are being reported to the respective State Licensing Authorities by PPvC at regular intervals.
