No safety trials of ayurvedic drugs to addicts in Haryana

The Haryana government has told the Punjab and Haryana high court that `there is no protocol for clinical trials of Ayurvedic drugs’ even as it administers Ayurvedic medicines to drug addicts. Justice Rajive Bhalla, who has since retired from the high court, had asked Haryana in October 2015 about the protocol followed and nature of Ayurvedic drug formulations administered to addicts. The issue came up before the court during a hearing of an ongoing petition highlighting problems of drug de-addiction centres in Haryana and Punjab. In February 2016, the state government denied existence of any protocol for clinical trials of Ayurvedic drugs in court. Effectively, the drugs were being given at de-addiction centres without scientific examination of their effectiveness on humans.

Dr Saket Kumar, director of Ayush department in Haryana, said that the process to start clinical trials of Ayurvedic medicine is under serious consideration. He added that medicine is being used as per the guidelines of central government. The issue has come up at a time when Ayurvedic medicines and products have become a rage with likes of Baba Ramdev and others launching a string of products. Haryana, too, has been aggressively backing Ayurvedic products with state government proposing several projects for promoting Ayurveda medicines.

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