The Pharmacovigilance Centre of Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) Drugs has asked the public to remain cautious about use of counterfeit drugs or drugs prescribed by quacks, as they may cause Adverse Drug Reaction (ADR). They can report any issues related to fake medicines and ADR in AYUSH system to the centre without delay.
The centre functions at the Siddha Wing of the Perundurai Government Hospital.
D. Venkatachalam, centre coordinator, and S. Yamini Priyadharsini, programme assistant, told The Hindu that during the COVID-19 pandemic people were not only using Allopathic medicines, but also Siddha and Ayurvedic medicines.
The State government had established separate facilities for Siddha treatment and had introduced special health care scheme “Arogyam”. It is also distributing Siddha medicines like Kabasura Kudineer as immune modulators for COVID-19.
However, there are lot of counterfeit medicines in the market, they said.
Original medicines will have manufacturing license number from the State Licensing Authority (IM), batch number, manufacturing date, expiry date and contact address or customer care support numbers. Whereas fake medicines will only have FSSAI, cottage industry and small scale industry licenses and women self-help group manufacturing details.
Similarly, practitioners list can be accessed at the Tamil Nadu Siddha Medical Council portal www.tnsmc.com, they said.
The Peripheral Pharmacovigilance Centre at Erode can be reached at ppvcayusherode@gmail.
com. Complaint forms and more details are available in www.ayushsuraksha.com or contact 011-26950401/402.
