New Delhi: The Ministry of Ayush has said that under the pharmacovigilance programme, a total of 38,539 misleading advertisements till date related to Ayush drugs has been noticed and reported to the State Licensing Authorities (SLAs) for possibility of action against the defaulter’s details, and these reports are mild in nature.
Responding to a question in the Rajya Sabha related to the action taken against misleading advertisements for treatment and drugs in the last five years, Union Minister of State (In Charge) of the Ministry of Ayush Pratap Rao Jadhav said, “None of them were found to be serious and none required hospitalization. No fatality was noticed, and all the reports were self-limiting and non-serious in nature”.
The total number of misleading advertisements related to Ayush drugs noticed by the pharmacovigilance is across almost six and a half years, from 2018 to till date in 2024. The number of misleading advertisements reported in 2024 so far, is 4,372, while it was 7,771 in 2023.
It may be noted that the number of misleading advertisements noticed by the pharmacovigilance was comparatively high during the period of Covid-19 pandemic. In 2020, the pharmacovigilance has reported 5,861 cases and 171 cases related to Covid; in the year 2021 8,144 cases and 43 Covid-19 related cases, and in 2022, around 7,367 cases and four Covid-19 related cases. In the year 2019, there were 4,395 cases reported, while it was a meagre 411 cases in 2018.
Out of the cases reported to the SLAs, from the year 2020 to July 2024, the authorities has taken action in 378 cases. The highest number of actions were taken by the Rajasthan SLA, of 206 cases, while the least was by West Bengal, which is in five cases.
Karnataka SLA has taken action in 94 cases, Tamil Nadu in 31 cases, Madhya Pradesh in 27 cases and Uttarakhand in 15 cases, said the Ministry in a response tabled on July 30, 2024.
Under the programme to ensure quality and safety of Ayush drugs, the Pharmacovigilance Centres for Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and Homoeopathy (ASU&H) Drugs were set up in different parts of the country under the Central Scheme of the Ministry of Ayush.
The programme is working through a three-tier network of a National Pharmacovigilance Centre (NPvCC), Five Intermediary Pharmacovigilance Centers (IPvCs) and 99 Peripheral Pharmacovigilance Centers (PPvCs) established across the country. All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA), New Delhi under Ministry of Ayush is the National Pharmacovigilance Co-ordination Centre (NPvCC) for the implementation of the National Pharmacovigilance program for Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani & Homoeopathy drugs. Objectionable advertisements are being reported to the respective State Licensing authorities by PPvC at regular intervals.
The programme focuses upon generating awareness among various stakeholders, inculcating a reporting culture of suspected adverse effects and surveillance of misleading advertisements appearing in the print and electronic media.
To generate awareness regarding the Ayush therapeutic approaches and educate about the systematic use of Ayush drugs, and to inculcate the reporting of any suspected adverse drug reaction in healthcare professionals; awareness events are being regularly organized across the country.
“Since 2018, the center has started receiving suspected reactions. These are the individual case safety reports and can be signals for future reference. These are being recorded and submitted to the Drug Policy Section, Ministry of Ayush for information. Reporting Objectionable advertisements to the respective State Licensing Authorities are an objective of the programme,” Jadhav added in Rajya Sabha.
