Thiruvananthapuram: The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has come down on state-run ayurvedic medicine manufacturing company “Oushadhi” for not adhering to prescribed standards in making its products. In its report on the “General and Social Sector” for the period ending March 2014 placed in the just concluded session of the Assembly, CAG said the company did not test Ayurveda drugs for presence of heavy metals, aflatoxin, toxicity and pesticide residue before supplying the same to institutions.
The report also said the company admitted that it has the facility to test only microbial and physico-chemical parametres of products. Quoting the guidelines of the Ayurvedic Pharmacopeia of India (API), CAG said all Ayurveda drugs must comply with the limits for heavy metals prescribed in individual Monograph and wherever limits were not stipulated, compliance with the limits given in World Health Organisation publications was stipulated.
“It was noticed that the products manufactured by Oushadhi were not tested for presence of heavy-metals, aflatoxins, toxicity and pesticide residue,” the report said.
“Oushadhi admitted its inability to conduct tests about heavy-metals, aflatoxins, toxicity and pesticide residue and stated that the facilities were available for testing only microbial load and physico-chemical parameters,” it said.
As Oushadhi admitted its inability to test these contents, the presence of these elements in the products and resultant patient discomfort cannot be ruled out, the CAG said.”Audit, therefore, could not obtain assurance that the drugs supplied by Oushadhi conformed to stipulated safety standards,” the report said. It also found that the Patent Cell of the company failed to acquire patent rights for any of the 2505 ‘Oushadha’ formulations it deciphered from manuscripts.
