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Regulatory activities & licensing process of Ayush department in AP in standstill for lack of officers
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Peethaambaran Kunnathoor, Chennai
July 24 , 2023
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The regulatory activities and licensing process of the department of Ayush in Andhra Pradesh have come to a standstill because of lack of officiating staff including licensing authority.
Apart from the licensing authority, the vacant posts include drug inspectors, senior drug inspectors, assistant drug controllers and other office staffers. The manufacturing companies are the worst sufferers as their applications are pending.
“From the 23rd of last month, the department has no licensing authority and applications for licences and renewals are pending with the office without any action. Alarmingly, the number of drug inspectors in the Ayush department has come down to one, but the number of manufacturing units has increased to 280”, said Dr. Vemula Bhanu Prakash, general secretary of the Confederation of Herbal and Ayurvedic Industries Association (CHAI) in AP.
Sharing the industry’s worries with Pharmabiz, Dr. Vemula said the state government has no interest to support the Ayurveda or other traditional system of treatments. Hence no scheme is framed or implemented in the public sector for the development of Ayush systems. According to him, the Ayurveda sector of Andhra Pradesh would have become the numero uno stream of the Ayush systems in India had it been given a minimum support by the state government. He said the Ayurveda medicines manufactured in Andhra Pradesh are the highest quality traditional drugs in India, but the credit goes to other states because of the governmental support there. He pointed out one discouraging fact that the government has no confidence in traditional medicines and except, Ayush graduates, no person or association comes forward to help Ayurveda and herbal drugs.
“We want to compete in the domestic markets as well as in the international markets, but we don't have any source or facility to grow up to that level. The Ayush department is not doing anything for the growth of the Ayush industry. We want facilities and technical support to improve the prospects in the domestic market as well as on the exports front”, he told Pharmabz.
As per the Ayush drug regulatory guidelines, one drug inspector is required to monitor 30 manufacturing units. But in Andhra Pradesh, only one drug inspector is working to monitor the process of 280 ayurvedic pharma plants. He said without sufficient drug inspectors the quality of the medicines manufactured by the companies cannot be ascertained and in the lack of a licensing authority the industry cannot move forward.
As regards infrastructure facilities, CHAI alleges that nobody from the government level or from the department level is taking any step to support the industry to grow. This shortage in governmental support has reflected on the activities of the industry sector also. They cannot supply the medicines to other states or export to foreign markets. Even the medicinal plant growers are also discarded.
He said all other state governments are supporting the Ayush sector and the industry by conducting workshops, awareness camps, CME programs, exhibitions etc, but in AP nobody has no interest in supporting the Ayush sector. Dr. Vemula said he will write to the Union Ayush Ministry seeking its intervention.
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