IOACON 2012 – Dec 2012

The nationwide AIOCD (All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists) set for March 28 has been postponed until after the General Elections. But it still continued in some states like UP and Bihar. The main demand is to empower retail shop owners with more than two years of experience to dispense drugs. This is in…

Section H1 Drugs and Cosmetics Rules In September 2013, the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules 1945 was modified. A section H1 was added to specify certain 3rd and 4th generation antibiotics in addition to some anti-TB drugs and addictive drugs. For the drugs under Schedule H1, pharmacies are required to retain a copy of the prescription…

A recent article highlights for example the danger of artemisinin-resistant bacteria emerging in Cambodia. Currently, these bacteria have been restricted to the East of the Moei river which separates Burma and Thailand. But once these cross over to India and Bangladesh and then to Africa, the problem will become difficult to contain. Artemisinin is often…

In December 2014, the Union Health Ministry of India decided to set up a high level committee to review the Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1945 and make the rules more relevant. The committee has now set up 7 sub-groups to look at different segments. The following 2 groups are relevant for Medical Devices:   1….

Drug resistance, especially to antibiotics, is becoming a serious problem for public health policy makers the world over, both in developed as well as developing countries. Common causes of increasing antibiotic resistance are: 1. Self-medication by patients for a variety of common diseases 2. Using antibiotics as a first line of defence, instead of as…

In August 2012 at the Clinical Infectious Diseases Society conference in Chennai, a road-map was laid out to tackle the problem of increasing resistance of bacteria to antibiotics. This is popularly known as the Chennai Declaration. It envisages that within 5 years, 90% of all antibiotics should be included in Schedule H1 and be sold…