The Government plans to set up Central Drug Controller of Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and Homeopathy (AYUSH) drugs. The proposal in this regard was sent to Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance. 13 posts comprising of one Drug Controller General (AYUSH), five Deputy/Assistant Drug Controllers and seven Drug Inspectors have been agreed to. Allocation of Rs. 102.00 crore has been provided for this initiative in the 12th Plan Budget including Rs.7.60 crore for the current financial year.
The following steps have been taken to establish the safety and efficacy of AYUSH drugs/medicines and develop their standards-
i) Under intramural and extramural research initiatives of the Central AYUSH Research Councils and Department of AYUSH research projects have been undertaken for safety and efficacy studies of AYUSH medicines.
ii) Pharmacopoeial Commission of Indian Medicine has been set up to accelerate the work of developing pharmacopoeial standards of Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani Drugs.
iii) Quality certification scheme for ASU Drugs has been introduced in collaboration with the Quality Council of India.
iv) Legal provisions have been made for display of shelf life or expiry date of various categories of Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani drugs and for the use of preservatives, additives etc. in the manufacture of these drugs.
v) Good Clinical Practice guidelines for clinical trials and Essential Drug Lists of Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and Homeopathy have been published.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Smt. Santosh Chowdhary in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today.
