A three member committee headed by the director general of Health Services that looked into the irregularities in the purchase of drugs into the CGHS unani dispensaries recently, has come down heavily on the practice of allopathic doctors heading the purchase advisory committee/inspection committee for drugs of alternative streams like ayurveda, unani, siddha etc.

The committee has questioned the credibility of such committees headed by allopathic doctors and has recommended a special audit and 100 per cent physical verification of medicines purchased in by the CGHS unani dispensaries across the country during the last three years. The central government is known to have accepted the recommendations of the committee.

The committee wanted the chairman and members of the purchasing committee chosen by the department of AYUSH from among the specialists /doctors of excellence. It also wanted the Purchase Committee to be responsible for finalisation of formulary, registration of firms and placement of supply orders.

The committee noted that there were no clear-cut guidelines for the Purchase Advisory Committee (PAC)/the inspection committee/for the store in charge and wanted the powers of PAC, inspection committees etc to be clearly delineated to ensure greater transparency and also to help proper registration of credible firms. The need for greater official monitoring and frequent inspection has been stressed.

The high power committee also recommended the introduction of in-service training for CGHS Unani doctors in Unani Pharmacopoea for updating and enhancing the knowledge of the practitioners. It wanted PAC to consider inserting penalty provisions in the contracts to take action against supplying firms failing to conform to standards/specification as required.

At present the PAC comprises of additional director CGHS, dy advisor ISM, 4 unani physicians, accounts officer, CGHS and CMO in-charge. The inspection committee comprises of dy advisor ISM and two senior most in-charge of CGHS unani dispensaries.

The government set up the committee after increasing number of complaints about the availability and quality of unani medicines in the dispensaries. The members of the committee were joint secretary (ISM) and the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI).