Drugs under watch list

2006
By Syed Akbar
Hyderabad, Oct 16: The Central government has put 11 drugs under watch for their reported side-effects as part of its pharmacovigilance programme.
According to Rajesh Bhushan, director, Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the government will take a decision on banning or otherwise of these drugs after gathering feedback from stake-holders. He said these drugs include pain-killers, cardio-muscular and anti-pyretic.
"We have already banned Rofecoxib and Valdecoxib after it was established that the are not good for the health of our people," he said.
Rajesh Bhushan told reporters at the National Institute of Nutrition here that the MHFW had sought the cooperation of healthcare professionals
in collecting data of adverse events related to drugs marketed in India. The submitted data will be collated and evaluated by the National Pharmacovigilance Centre operating at the department of pharmacology,
All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.
Referring to the drug sector scenario in the country, Rajesh Bhushan said laboratories required urgent upgradation for increasing capacity and competency. He regretted that all imported drug batches were not tested. A large number of vacancies in Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation and Central and State laboratories were coming in the way of effective implementation.
He agreed that there were constraints in existing testing capabilities and capacities especially for contaminants and microbiological parameters.