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MOA to launch national portal for pharmacovigilance in ISM to curb proliferation of misleading ads
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Peethaambaran Kunnathoor, Chennai
December 17 , 2024
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The Union Ministry of Ayush (MOA) will soon launch a national portal for pharmacovigilance in Indian Systems of Medicines (ISM) to aid the efforts of the Ayush Ministry to curb the proliferation of misleading advertisements, according to Dr Kousthubha Upadhyaya, adviser to the Ayush ministry.
He said the PVP framework has since been strengthened with the setting up of a National Pharmacovigilance Centre (NPC) as well as 99 peripheral centres across the country.
He announced this while speaking in a seminar on “Pharmacovigilance and Good Manufacturing Practices” at the World Ayurveda Congress that concluded in Dehradun in Uttarakhand on Sunday. He said the portal, tentatively named ‘Trinetra’, will facilitate quicker reporting of misleading advertisements by stakeholders in Ayush (Ayurveda, Yoga & Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy).
Despite efforts to deter the practice in recent years, he said misleading advertisements continue to be reported almost on a daily basis. “The consumer is supreme, his health is supreme and no advertisement should adversely affect his health,” he said.
Participants were given a preview of the portal by Dr M Kannan, research officer at the Central Council for Research in Siddha (CCRS) who led its developer team. Dr Kannan said the portal was designed with the aim of improving consumer safety. Pharmacovigilance refers to the practice of monitoring and preventing adverse effects of drugs.
Other speakers in the seminar also stressed the need to curb misleading advertisements, saying they could tarnish the reputation of traditional Indian systems of medicine and negate ongoing efforts to promote Ayush globally. They lamented that advertisements offering Ayurveda magic cures and medicines or treatments without side effects were regularly seen, when even ancient Ayurveda texts highlight the possibility of adverse reactions.
Prof Rabi Narayan Acharya, deputy director general of health service (Ayush), said India was the first country in the world to bring misleading advertisements within the parameters of pharmacovigilance. Prof Acharya, associated with the pharmacoviglance programme (PVP) since its inception in India in 2008, said it was initially vehemently resisted by Ayurveda practitioners and industry leaders. Many even feared that it would tarnish Ayurveda’s “side-effect free” reputation, a premise not supported by the ancient texts.
The speakers included Dr A Raghu, deputy director, Dr Mohammad Khalid, ADC (Unani), Dr Gaurav Sharma and Prof Sudipta Kumar Rath from the Jaipur-based National Institute of Ayurveda (NIA) and Dr Soorya Narayan from The Himalaya Company.
“Digital Health-An Ayurveda Perspective” was the focal theme of the four-day event, which was organised by World Ayurveda Foundation, an initiative of Vijnana Bharati, in association with Ayush Ministry, Government of India, the Uttarakhand Government and other sectoral stakeholders. Uttarakhand Governor Lt.Gen (Retd) Gurmit Singh, chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and Ayush secretary Dr. Rajesh Kotecha were among the distinguished personalities who addressed the Ayurveda congress.
The event was attended by more than 12,000 participants, besides 352 foreign delegates from 58 countries. As many as 350,000 people visited the Arogya Expo, where 132 buyers from 40 countries attended B2B meets. At the 10 OPD clinics, 4,000 patients received free consultation.
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