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New Delhi , Dec. 14

AGAINST the backdrop of Indian allopathic drug manufacturers creating a niche for themselves in the global market, ayurvedic drugs could also be developed to become a cash-cow for India by tapping potential markets in Europe, the United States and other developed markets. But for this, confidence needs to be established abroad on key issues such as safety and quality of the drugs, points out a Parliamentary Standing Committee report.

Heightened concern on the quality of ayurvedic drugs comes also in the wake of substandard, fake or spurious drugs that have been the bane of the allopathic segment.

Subsequently, given the increasing popularity of ayurvedic drugs in global markets, "a tight vigil on the quality and safety of ayurveda drugs manufactured and used in India or exported out of India" has been recommended in the 143rd Action Taken Report of the Department of Indian System of Medicine and Homoeopathy (DoISMH) under the Health Ministry.

"The Committee feels that European countries, US and other developed and prosperous countries have tremendous potential to become extremely lucrative markets for ayurvedic drugs of our country and can generate a lot of foreign exchange," the report states.

Though traditional medicine commands a market because it is affordable and less harmful - experts have urged caution with regard to safety and quality, licensing of providers and standards of training in this connection.

The report points out that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has formulated a traditional medicine strategy for 2002-05 that focuses on these issues.

Further, the WHO has pointed out that about 70 per cent of the Indian population use traditional medicine for its primary health needs.

Meanwhile, the Indian medicine department has said that it has recently introduced good manufacturing practices and laid down certain norms and standards for the manufacture of ayurvedic medicine. In the area of drug standardisation, the Department said that three volumes of Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India have been published. About 326 standard formulations on single drugs have been completed.

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