Inaugurating the World Integrated Medicine Forum in Goa, Ayush minister announces changes in drug laws
Allopathy pharmacies can now stock homoeopathy medicines without any separate licence. AYUSH minister Shripad Naik on Wednesday said this. He was speaking at the inauguration the World Integrated Medicine Forum on the regulation of Homoeopathic Medicinal Products. The theme of the forum is ‘Advancing Global Collaboration’.
The three-day forum is being organised by Central Council for Research in Homeopathy (CCRH), with the support of Ministry of AYUSH, Homoeopathic Pharmacopoeia Convention of the United States (HPCUS) and European Coalition on Homeopathic & Anthroposophic Medicinal Products (ECHAMP), Pharmacopoeia Commission of Indian Medicine and Homoeopathy and Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO).
The forum has participation of key public and private sector stakeholders, such as representatives from World Health Organisation (WHO) and drug regulatory authorities. There are also pharmacopoeia experts and industrialists from countries like Germany, USA, France, UK, Brazil, Belgium, South Africa, Argentina, Russia, Greece, Austria, Cuba, Qatar, Croatia, Malaysia, Japan, Hongkong and Sri Lanka. Among the delegates are also present veterinary experts, as well as the regulators and drug controllers of various states of India.
A licensee of allopathic drugs’ sales can sell homoeopathic medicines without any need of a separate license. This will make homoeopathic medicines more widely and easily available in India
More than a billion patients worldwide are demanding safe and effective medicines for their healthcare needs. As a result, the demand for Homoeopathy is growing. There is still a highly disparate situation among countries with regard to the regulations of homeopathic medicines. This directly affects the availability of these medicines.
Apart from illustrating how homeopathy can be further regulated and integrated into the healthcare system in countries that have adopted the use of Homoeopathy since long, this Forum will also bring countries to the table where homeopathy has only been recently introduced.
Naik in his inaugural address said that India is the fifth largest investor in scientific research in Homoeopathy in the world. With the institutional support of more than 200 homoeopathic colleges and an autonomous Research Council having 26 research centres, Homoeopathic Pharmacopoeia Laboratory and a work force of about 250 thousand homoeopathic clinicians, India can contribute in various aspects of mainstream healthcare. He called upon the industry as well as homoeopathic medical colleges to invest certain percentage of institutional and industrial revenues in research and collaborate with CCRH for undertaking high quality, cutting edge research projects.
The minister apprised the audience of the recent amendments in the Drugs & Cosmetics Rules 1945, which included freedom from requisition of separate license for a homoeopathy retailer for exhibiting the Homoeopathic Drugs for promotional activities in any fair, exhibitions etc. This, he said, would promote awareness and usefulness of homoeopathic medicines at wider public platforms. Another amendment that he informed the delegates about is the provision of sale of homoeopathic medicine from an allopathic counter. A licensee of allopathic drugs’ sales can sell homoeopathic medicines without any need of a separate license. This will make homoeopathic medicines more widely and easily available in India.
