"War on misleading Indian medicine ads
Practitioners of these systems mislead public by claiming to cure cancer, diabetes, heart disease. | Published: 6th Mar 2017 1:01 am
Hyderabad: The Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM), the statutory body which monitors higher education in Indian systems of medicine under the Union Ministry of AYUSH, is up in arms against phoney, unproven and misleading advertisements issued by practitioners of Indian streams of medicine such as Ayurveda, Sidda and Unani.
Hyderabad: The Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM), the statutory body which monitors higher education in Indian systems of medicine under the Union Ministry of AYUSH, is up in arms against phoney, unproven and misleading advertisements issued by practitioners of Indian streams of medicine such as Ayurveda, Sidda and Unani.
The CCIM has issued directives to State registration boards and local AYUSH authorities to start taking action and ‘crack the whip’ on practitioners who tend to saturate public mindspace with misleading advertisements.
In a circular to all the heads of AYUSH, the CCIM said that “By issuing such advertisements, practitioners are misleading the general public by claiming prevention or cure of various diseases such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease and infertility, etc., which is a clear violation of Practitioners of Indian Medicines (Standards of Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Code of Ethics) Regulations, 1982 prescribed by the CCIM.”
No regulatory body
“The problem with Indian medicine is that there is no regulatory body as in the case of allopathy. This has encouraged everybody to claim miracle cures. At some point, someone had to put a stop to the exaggerated claims made by the practitioners of Indian medicine. It is high time that action is initiated against those making such claims,” said CCIM member and former Principal of Government Ayurveda College, Erragadda, Dr. S. Sarangapani.
“The problem with Indian medicine is that there is no regulatory body as in the case of allopathy. This has encouraged everybody to claim miracle cures. At some point, someone had to put a stop to the exaggerated claims made by the practitioners of Indian medicine. It is high time that action is initiated against those making such claims,” said CCIM member and former Principal of Government Ayurveda College, Erragadda, Dr. S. Sarangapani.
To further strengthen the regulatory framework and monitor advertisements that are aired in various news mediums, the Ministry of AYUSH has also entered into a collaboration with the Advertisement Standards Council of India (ASCI), which is a self-regulatory voluntary organisation set up by the advertising industry in India.
The AYUSH department has also directed private drug manufacturers to abstain from making advertisements and exaggerated claims in the print and electronic media that may mislead public and tantamount to violation of legal provisions and guidelines of advertising.
“I also urge the State government to make it mandatory for all the AYUSH practitioners to register themselves with the local district health and medical officers, which will bring some sort of accountability. At present, there is no regulation and that’s why anybody can make tall claims through advertisements,” Dr. Sarangapani added.
The circular from AYUSH and CCIM said the State authorities should initiate strict action against ‘the defaulter acting in contravention of the relevant provisions of the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954, Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and rules thereunder other prescribed guidelines and code of advertising.”
It is high time that action is initiated against those making such claims," said CCIM member & former Principal of Government Ayurveda College, Erragadda, Dr. S. Sarangapani. http://bit.ly/2lAhR44
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