Prefixes & Suffixes banned for ayurvedic, siddha drugs

Hyderabad: Prefixes and suffixes have been banned for all Ayurvedic, Siddha and Unani drugs by the department of AYUSH under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act. This notification was issued despite severe opposition from the manufacturers as they are selling the same brand by adding a prefix or a suffix to it.

Similarly mimicking names for formulations have been brought under the ambit of the notification as it is causing a lot of harm to consumers who are not able to identify the real product.

The problem is that there are combinations of chyawanprash with added tags like sona-chandi chyawanprash or chyawanprash special which is confusing customers. Similarly, for malampati there are products like bakri malampati, kali malampati, chunna malampati and so on. There are also prefixes and suffixes for kayam churan and hazmiyaat medicines.

The notification which came from the Ayush department insists that the name of the drug must be licensed and only then production can start. At present, many manufacturers are either home-based or are small units.

The license is to produce the drugs but there is no proper registration of names. Ayush commissioner Dr K.P. Vasuki of AP says, “The notifications ensure that customer interest are safeguarded.”

Bringing manufacturers under a labeling system is intended to help them tackle spurious ones. A senior Ayurvedic doctor said, “The problem is complex. There are many who have secret combinations that are known only to certain families. Disclosing them is very difficult and there is too much conflict within the industry.”

But the government stand is that if the AYUSH system has to flourish, it has to do away with these diktats and work towards setting up a system which is transparent and not confusing as is in the present case.

But the industry views this step in a negative way and has been demanding retention of these practices and nullification of the law as they feel that it will strongly affect their growth.