{"id":255163,"date":"2023-08-07T21:36:55","date_gmt":"2023-08-07T16:06:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=255163"},"modified":"2023-08-29T16:52:37","modified_gmt":"2023-08-29T11:22:37","slug":"on-government-direction-on-indian-drug-standards-a-partial-remedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/on-government-direction-on-indian-drug-standards-a-partial-remedy\/","title":{"rendered":"On government direction on Indian drug standards: A partial remedy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Source:<\/strong> The post is based on the article \u201cExpress View on government direction on Indian drug standards: A partial remedy<\/strong>\u201d published in \u201cThe Indian express\u201d on 7th August 2023.<\/p>\n

Syllabus:<\/strong> Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector\/Services relating to Health.<\/p>\n

News:<\/strong> A much-needed action was taken last week when the government issued a directive requesting that drug producers adhere to WHO guidelines.<\/p>\n

What are the recent incidents that have dented the country\u2019s reputation as a reliable source of inexpensive generics?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In October 2022, over 60 children in Gambia died due to kidney complications from cough syrups<\/strong> made by Haryana-based Maiden Pharmaceuticals.<\/p>\n

Within three months, another cold remedy by Marion Biotech in Noida was blamed for 19 children’s deaths in Uzbekistan.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In March 2023, Cameroon authorities associated a batch of cough medicines from an Indore-based firm with at least 12 fatalities.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The World Health Organization found toxic content in seven Indian-made cough syrups.<\/p>\n

Surveys by Indian authorities have also revealed serious shortcomings in at least 160 pharma units.<\/p>\n

What are the reasons for such incidents?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Lack of WHO certification:<\/strong> Less than 20% of Indian pharma units are WHO-certified, indicating poor quality control.<\/p>\n

Outsourcing to MSMEs:<\/strong> Large companies often outsource production to small and medium-sized enterprises where quality might be compromised for cost reduction.<\/p>\n

Inadequate regulatory staffing:<\/strong> For instance, Haryana’s drug monitoring department had less than 40% of its required staff during the Maiden Pharma case investigation.<\/p>\n

Misallocation of inspectors’ duties:<\/strong> Inspectors often handle administrative work related to licenses, causing a neglect in drug safety and efficacy checks.<\/p>\n

Limited testing facilities:<\/strong> India only has 31 government-run drug testing labs, which is not sufficient.<\/p>\n

Lack of transparency and public information:<\/strong> There is limited information about inspection procedures and violations that could warn regulatory authorities, doctors, and healthcare institutions.<\/p>\n

What should be done?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Implement WHO standards:<\/strong> The government should require all pharmaceutical manufacturers to adhere to these global norms.<\/p>\n

Improve regulatory oversight:<\/strong> This includes hiring more staff for drug monitoring and focusing their work on drug safety checks.<\/p>\n

Enhance testing facilities:<\/strong> Increase the number of state and central drug testing laboratories.<\/p>\n

Create a violation database:<\/strong> This would alert authorities, healthcare institutions, and doctors about inspections and violations.<\/p>\n

Increase transparency:<\/strong> Publicly share information about procedures followed during investigations and manufacturing standards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: The post is based on the article \u201cExpress View on government direction on Indian drug standards: A partial remedy\u201d published in \u201cThe Indian express\u201d on 7th August 2023. Syllabus: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector\/Services relating to Health. News: A much-needed action was taken last week when the government issued a… Continue reading On government direction on Indian drug standards: A partial remedy<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[212,8131],"class_list":["post-255163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-2","tag-social-issues","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":1700784412,"cached_date":1703340550},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255163\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}