It is a stunning news that after cough syrups, 500 more drugs, including popular antibiotics and anti-diabetic drugs, may soon face a ban for being unsafe and ineffaceous. The health ministry, which banned 344 fixed-dose combinations (FDCs) including popular cough syrups like Phensedyl, Corex and Benadryl last week, is evaluating a list of over 6,000 products. The health ministry is of the view that irrational FDCs are causing anti-microbial resistance and in some cases the toxicity is so high that it can even lead to failure of organs. The Health Ministry should be congratulated for this bold decision.
It may be true that the drug industry may meet revenue loss of several crore for 344 FDCs that are already banned and they may have to bear more heavy financial loss if more drugs are banned. Some industry sources say the financial impact can be to the tune of Rs 10,000 crore. Nevertheless this is unavoidable as drug makers in connivance with unscrupulous medical practitioners are making huge profit with killer medicines.
The local pharmaceutical retail market Rs 1 lakh crore annually should be for saving life and not for killing people. The government should give wide publicity among people about killer medicines.
-K A Solaman
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