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EDITORIAL
Year : 1988  |  Volume : 36  |  Issue : 1  |  Page : 1-2

Pharmaceutical products and government policies


CBM Oph. Institute, Little Flower Hospital, Angamally-683 572 Kerala, India

Correspondence Address:
S T Fernandez
CBM Oph. Institute, Little Flower Hospital, Angamally-683 572 Kerala
India
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Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None


PMID: 3253190

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How to cite this article:
Fernandez S T. Pharmaceutical products and government policies. Indian J Ophthalmol 1988;36:1-2

How to cite this URL:
Fernandez S T. Pharmaceutical products and government policies. Indian J Ophthalmol [serial online] 1988 [cited 2024 Mar 29];36:1-2. Available from: https://journals.lww.com/ijo/pages/default.aspx/text.asp?1988/36/1/1/26174

Some of the glaring defeciencies that we find in our pharmaceutical industries can be listed as follows:­

1. Non-availability of essential drugs like insulin, acetazolamide, pilocarpine and other life saving drugs in the market on and off.

2. Drugs which are banned in developed countries are also being marketed in our country,

3. Bad packing of tablets and capsules, cheap plastic eye droppers and which frequently break and becomes unhygenic.

4. Doubtful standard of some drugs,.and free and uncontrolled sale of spurious drugs in the market

5. No strict procedure followed for the sale of dangerous drugs from medical stores. In countries outside India, drugs are sold only by prescriptions from registered medical practitioners whose register number must be mentioned in the prescription Due to the free sale of drugs misuse of antibiotics by quacks occur and resistant stains of organisms, develop which the doctors find difficult to treat Non-availability of essential drugs may be a phenomen which will never happen in any other part of the world except in India Whosoever is responsible for these state of affairs are morally answerable to the public for it. As ophthalmologists all of us are aware of the difficulties the patients undergo when sight saving drugs like pilocarpine and azetazolamide become scarce in the market which has become a common phenomenon in the last few years. Even very essential drugs like insulin go out of market on and off.

It is also surprising why drugs which are certified as harmful by the developed countries should be allowed to be marketed in our country by the multinational companies. Doesn't the government have sufficient powers to ban such drugs in our country also ? Can't the Drugs Controller lay down strict regulations regarding the containers and packing of medicines and also the sterilization of fluids? Many accidents have occured in the eye camps. It is a known fact that saline used in the eye camps could be one of the source of infection In many hospitals and eye camps, it is now been advised to double sterilise not only saline but even other antibiotics drugs before usage, because the source of infection could be from these solutions.

These are matters of grave importance which require the attention of the parliament and the Government Is it not time that we create an independent and powerful organization like the Food and Drugs Association (FDA) as in America who will monitor the use and sale of drugs, check the standard of intra ocular lenses, contact lenses, restrict the practice of new surgeries, standardise equipment control drug price, monitor standardization of drugs and check sterility of fluids like saline etc. It is true that the Drug Controllers do the formation now, but their action must be widened. This committee must be constituted by the government including only profes­sionals and it is essential that politicians and politics must be kept away from the committee so that atleast the life and health of people will be saved from pressure politics and corruption. The Lentin Commission report from Maharashtra from where the majority of drugs in India are produced gives an insight into corrupt practices prevailing in the F.D.A mainly because of political control Life saving drugs must be made available at a reasonable cost.

There have been some doubts raised on the new drug policy announced by the government in 1986 by the Indian Medical Association In an editorial in "the Journal of the Indian Medical Association' they have accused the government of deviating from the recom­mendations of the Hathi Committee and surrendering to the pressures of the multinational companies. It is also pointed out that this policy will underline the stability of the public sector units and also the small and medium private sector pharmaceuticals of Indian origin These accusations are of a serious nature and I am sure that the government will look into the deficiency of these drug policies and take remedial steps




 

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