The Ayurvedic Medicine Manufacturers’ Organisation of India (AMMOI) has said that the Union government has begun steps for the registration and licensing of herbal raw materials used in the making of ayurvedic drugs.
Responding to a news report carried by The Hindu (‘Small units’ Ayurvedic drugs may have harmful metals’, October 22), AMMOI general secretary D. Ramanathan clarified on Friday that the units making ‘arishtams’ and ‘asavams’ in the State were cleaning the raw materials regularly irrespective of the size of the company and the quantity of products they were manufacturing.
He pointed out that there were around 650 manufacturing units here and 300 of them were making these drugs. They had Good Manufacturing Practice certificates and were adhering to the Drugs and Cosmetics Act. Drug inspectors were periodically checking their premises to ensure quality. The laboratory set up at CARe Keralam, a resource centre under the Union government, was being used for checking the quality of medicines, Dr. Ramanathan added.