It was constituted in 1930 with Col. R.N. Chopra as Chairman, Shri C. Govindan Nair as Secretary and Dr. B. Mukherjee as Assistant Secretary.
Drugs Enquiry Committee
(D.E.C.), 1930
It was constituted
in 1930 with Col. R.N. Chopra as Chairman, Shri C. Govindan Nair as Secretary
and Dr. B. Mukherjee as Assistant Secretary. The other three members of the
Committee were Fr.J .F. Caius, Mr. H. Cooper and Maulvi Abdul Matin Chowdhary.
The Committee did splendid service to the cause of pharmacy profession in the
country. The Committee visited many places in the country and interacted with
the doctors and other professionals on the matters pertaining to health care
system in country, quality of medicines available, etc. The questionnaires were
sent by the Committee to medical personnel, customs officers, manufactures,
medical associations and others related to medical field.
The
terms of references for the Committee were as follows:
1. To probe into the
quality of drugs, that are being imported, manufactured and sold especially,
those which are official in B.P.
2. To suggest
remedial measures for checking import, manufacturing, sale or distribution of the
substandard or spurious drugs and their formulations.
3. To look into the formulations prepared indigenously from
the vegetable drugs and suggest remedial measures for maintaining the quality
of such formulations.
4. To look into all
other aspects directly or indirectly connected with the profession of pharmacy.
D.E.C.
reported that there was no systematic profession like pharmacy being practiced
in the country. The drugs were dispensed and compounded or handled mostly by
the untrained people. The remuneration paid to them was poor. The so-called compounders
with no knowledge of drugs were handling the drug formulations. They were also
doing the work of dressers, helpers, laboratory technicians and all other
miscellaneous jobs including, maintaining the accounts of doctors. These
compounders were able to read and write in English and that was the only
qualification they had for handling the drugs. Only in the provinces of Bengal
and Madras, there was a training course for compounders/ chemists & druggists. The
report was a sad commentary on the poor state of the profession of pharmacy in
the country. After in-depth study and critical analysis, the committee made
following recommendations to the Government:
1. There should be
legislations to control drugs and other remedies whether belonging to the B.P
or not.
2. There could be
another law to ensure that drugs are handled by qualified persons and there
could be a systematic course in pharmacy.
3. A drug regulating
authority at center and in provinces/states be established.
4. There should be
drug/quality control laboratories established in provinces and also at the
centre. The efforts should be made to publish Indian Pharmacopoeia.
The Committee
submitted its report in 1931. The findings of the Committee spurred activity in
teaching institutions, industry and the profession. Until 1937, British rulers
did not act on this report. In 1937, Import
of Drugs Bill was introduced with limited reference to the import and later withdrawn due to public
criticism. Finally, in 1940 The Drugs
Bill was introduced in the
Parliament, based on the recommendation of
D.E.C and after in-depth deliberations The
Drugs Act, 1940 was enacted which was latter ammended to the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.
The Health Survey and Development Committee, 1945 constituted under the Chairmanship of Justice
Bhore also re-emphasized the need for the qualified and trained pharmacists
and registration of pharmacists, formation of Councils to govern the profession
at Centre and in Provinces, strengthening of the provisions of Drugs Act, more
drug control laboratories for strengthening of infrastructure for drug
regulation, etc.
The recommendations
of Drugs Enquiry Committee and Health Survey and Development Committee were
responsible for laying the foundation for the Pharmacy Act, 1948. The Pharmacy Council of India was constituted
in 1949 and the minimum qualification for registration as pharmacist was
prescribed and process for registration described.
After
independence, it was felt to regulate the advertisements of drugs, which were
in exaggerated form and misleading. A number of manufacturers were making
exaggerated claims for their medicines and also exploiting the human weaknesses
especially, in relation with advertisements pertaining to sexually transmitted
diseases, menstrual disorders, loss of vigour, stamina, etc. The magic remedies
were freely advertised for the cure of Bhanamati,
epilepsy or fits, diabetes and number of other diseases. The magic remedies in
the form of Kavachas, Taits, Talisman, Sacred Bones, Sacred Bhasmas, Mantras,
etc., were freely practiced and the poor and illiterate people were exploited.
It is to control such objectionable trends, "The
Drugs & Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act" was passed by the Parliament in 1994.
Alcohol
is an important solvent in pharmaceutical industry. Alcohol is required for
manufacturing of drugs and also for drug formulations as vehicle, preservative
and therapeutic agent. At the time of independence, manufacturing, sale and
distribution of alcohol was controlled by provinces/states. The rates charged
by the provinces/states in the form of excise duties were different for
different regions. Alcohol was also being misused and it was drug of abuse. It is to regulate the production, sale
and distribution ofalcohol and to bring uniformity in the excise duties to be
paid, the Medicinal and Toilet preparations (Excise Duties) Act was passed by
the Parliament in 1955.
The Drugs Price Control Order, 1970 and thereafter at
subsequent intervals was aimed at
fixing the prices for the drugs and their formulations categorized into
essential and non-essential groups so that uniform retail rates for certain
categories of drugs can be maintained and the drugs prices of life saving drugs
can be controlled.
The
Indian Patents Act 1970 which was process patent based gave an impetus to
Indian pharmaceutical industry which resulted increased indigenous production
of drugs and pharmaceuticals. In post WTO era, with the new product patent
regime coming into force, the Indian pharmaceutical industry is undergoing
rapid metamorphosis to meet the challenges of globalization of pharmaceutical
trade. Many Indian pharmaceutical companies have acquired the status of
multinational companies. A new era of pharmaceutical profession in India has
just begun to meet the challenges of Post-GATT and Post-GATS developments.
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