The Department of Ayush has launched a voluntary certification scheme in collaboration with the Quality Council of India (QCI) to issue quality asserting certificates for common Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) products both for Indian and overseas markets.

The scheme has been designed and will be managed by QCI, India's apex quality facilitation organization. The scheme envisages two levels of certifications - an AYUSH Standard Mark for meeting the domestic regulatory requirements and an AYUSH Premium Mark for meeting international norms such as those set by WHO or regulations of European Commission, USA and other countries, according to the QCI officials.

The aim is to make common AYUSH products like Chyawanprash available in the market with a quality seal. Having designed as a voluntary scheme, the certification will be issued to the willing manufacturers who volunteer to undergo the rigour of an independent third party assessment system.

"We have already identified some third party organisations and they are under scrutiny for accreditation. The process is on and we cannot comment on the organisations at present, but we expect to issue accreditations to the first set of certification bodies in next seven to 10 days," said Anil Jauhri, Adviser, NABCB, QCI.

The Scheme is a result of nearly ten months of interaction between the Department of AYUSH and QCI which included a series of consultations with the industry bodies like the Ayurvedic Drugs Manufacturers Association (ADMA), the regulator, Drugs Controller General of India and the state health authorities.

As per the scheme, the QCI will select the third party certification bodies and laboratories accredited to corresponding international standards by the National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies (NABCB) under QCI and the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) under the Department of Science and Technology. The move will be helpful to promote the international acceptability of AYUSH products manufactured in India in future.

The AYUSH industry is also in talks with the Department of Ayush for financial assistance in upgradation of infrastructure and cost of training and related activities to optimise the benefits of the scheme.

The reputation of NABCB and NABL as part of an international system of accreditation and members of corresponding international bodies on behalf of India, will provide authenticity for the certificates in overseas countries. Both are also signatories to international mutual recognition arrangements which confer international acceptance to the accreditations granted by them to Indian certification bodies and laboratories in India.

QCI is also working on voluntary programmes on accreditation of AYUSH hospitals similar to the highly successful hospital accreditation programme under its National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Health Care Providers (NABH). Further, accreditations will be issued to AYUSH colleges by QCI's National Accreditation Board for Education and Training (NABET) to ensure quality standards, with the support of the Department of Ayush under the collaboration.