The Union Ministry of Ayush (MOA) is poised to unveil a national platform dedicated to pharmacovigilance within Indian Systems of Medicine (ISM), aiming to support the Ministry’s endeavors to curb misleading advertisements. This information was shared by Dr. Kousthubha Upadhyaya, an adviser to the Ayush Ministry.
He highlighted that the pharmacovigilance framework has been fortified through the establishment of a National Pharmacovigilance Centre (NPC) and 99 additional satellite centres scattered across the nation.
During a seminar titled “Pharmacovigilance and Good Manufacturing Practices” at the World Ayurveda Congress in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, Dr. Upadhyaya revealed plans for the portal, provisionally named ‘Trinetra’. Its purpose is to expedite the reporting of deceptive advertisements by participants in the Ayush sector, which includes Ayurveda, Yoga & Unani, Siddha, and Homoeopathy.
Despite recent initiatives, he noted that misleading advertisements consistently surface at an alarming frequency. “The health of the consumer is of utmost importance and no advertisement should compromise it,” he asserted.
Dr. M Kannan, a research officer at the Central Council for Research in Siddha (CCRS), headed the team that developed the portal and provided seminar attendees with a sneak peek. Dr. Kannan explained that the portal was crafted to bolster consumer safety, with pharmacovigilance aimed at observing and mitigating the negative effects of medications.
Other seminar speakers echoed the demand to restrict misleading advertisements, noting the potential damage they could inflict on the credibility of traditional Indian medical systems, possibly undermining global Ayush promotional ventures. They expressed concern over advertisements claiming miraculous Ayurvedic solutions or side-effect-free treatments, contrary to ancient texts that acknowledge potential adverse effects.
Prof Rabi Narayan Acharya, Deputy Director General of Health Services (Ayush), emphasized India’s pioneering role in integrating misleading advertisements within the bounds of pharmacovigilance. As an early contributor to the pharmacovigilance program (PVP) since its inception in India in 2008, Prof Acharya recounted initial resistance from Ayurveda practitioners and industry representatives who feared it could overshadow Ayurveda’s “no side-effects” image, a belief not backed by ancient scripts.
Esteemed speakers also included Dr. A Raghu, Deputy Director, Dr. Mohammad Khalid, ADC (Unani), Dr. Gaurav Sharma, and Prof Sudipta Kumar Rath from the Jaipur-based National Institute of Ayurveda (NIA), as well as Dr. Soorya Narayan from The Himalaya Company.
The four-day event centered around the theme “Digital Health-An Ayurveda Perspective,” organized by the World Ayurveda Foundation, a Vijnana Bharati initiative, in collaboration with the Ayush Ministry, Government of India, the Government of Uttarakhand, and other key stakeholders. The event saw addresses by prominent figures like Uttarakhand Governor Lt. Gen (Retd) Gurmit Singh, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, and Ayush Secretary Dr. Rajesh Kotecha.
More than 12,000 participants attended the event, alongside 352 international delegates from 58 countries. Furthermore, over 350,000 people visited the Arogya Expo, featuring 132 buyers from 40 countries participating in B2B meetings, and at the 10 outpatient clinics, 4,000 patients benefited from complimentary consultations.