The National Pharmacovigilance Centre (NPC) at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences has come out with startling facts that show indiscriminate adulteration of traditional drugs prescribed by alternative medicine experts in the country. Of the random samples tested by the Department of Pharmacology at AIIMS during March 2000 to February 2002, 26 per cent tested positive for cortico-steroids. The various ailments for which these drugs were prescribed include osteoarthritis, bronchial asthma, skin allergy, diabetes, neuropathy, hypothyroidism, leucoderma and cardiac problems.

The unprofessional use of steroids by quacks to render quick relief to patients especially suffering from chronic illnesses has serious implications, warns Prof SK Gupta, chief NPC. "The deliberate contamination of corticosteroids, or for that matter illegal, irrational and unspecified inclusion of any other drug in indigenous medicines and their misuse has raised serious concerns specially for the majority of poor and illiterate rural population of India who are not aware of such malpractices," he said.

He wanted the government to strengthen pharmacovigilance of traditional medicine as regards their safety, efficacy and counterfeiting for safeguarding public health.

The survey was conducted by using the drugs that were received for analysis through doctors from out patient departments in AIIMS, from patients themselves or from the hospital staff who either suspected adulteration or as a precautionary measure wanted to get the samples analyzed. Of the 150 samples analyzed 48 per cent were ayurvedic, 28 per cent homoeopathic, 1.3 per cent allopathic and 22.6 per cent were of unknown category. In the ayurvedic group 31 per cent samples were adulterated whereas in the homoeopathic group and the drugs samples in the unknown category, 3.3 per cent and 32.4 per cent of the total number in each group, tested positive for corticosteroids respectively.

Prof Gupta said that the boom in sales in alternative medicine that are available over the counter as health and dietary supplements is due to the absence of stringent regulatory control over such drugs. "The rise in the number of self-styled and unprofessional traditional medicine experts and practitioners has compounded the situation further. They usually dispense unspecified mixture of herbal drugs to the patient and also hide the identity of the constituents in the dispensed preparation. This leads to wide spread malpractice and drug adulteration", he said. The pharmacovigilance study on traditional medicines undertaken by the Department of Pharmacology, AIIMS has proven this beyond doubt, he adds.