The Karnataka Directorate of AYUSH (Ayurvedic section), tasked with overseeing 142 Ayurveda companies (all Schedule T compliant) and 60 loan licensee units is in a serious dilemma with no dedicated office space, no communication facilities like phones, fax and internet and no adequate manpower.

The directorate, which recently appointed a drug licensing authority Dr K M Nanjappa, who is also the deputy director (Pharmacy) Government Central Pharmacy, Karnataka, has just two drug inspectors to carry out the activities.

`The two inspectors, each require more than a day to inspect just one unit's manufacturing standards, tracking stocks on the basis of quality and expiry dates, maintenance of laboratory reports, procurement methodologies and basic documentation,'' said Dr Nanjappa. Under these circumstances, it is becoming extremely difficult to satisfy with the Union Government's requirements of updating records and information of companies operating in the State, he said.

``Several requests have been made to the State Government for equipping the department but there has been no response. At a time when the Union Government is encouraging Indian Systems of Medicine, the step-motherly treatment meted out to this department is hampering work,'' Dr Nanjappa added.

Since the appointment of a dedicated drug licensing authority for the approval of Ayurveda drugs on Oct 19, 2006, Dr Nanjappa has been making arrangements to use the communication facilities in the director's office of the Directorate. But this presents its own problems because they are not easy to access and loaded with the centralized communication work of the Directorate. And till recently, the drug licensing for Ayurveda used to be supervised by Dr B N Prakash who is a homoeopathy expert with no experience in approval of Ayurveda drugs.

The Union government order for a dedicated Drug licensing authority led the Directorate to appoint Dr. Nanjappa who has over 36 years of experience in the directorate.
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According to Dr Nanjappa, a recent meeting with the Health and Family Welfare Secretary Usha Ganesh (IAS) has proved fruitful in terms of her comprehension of the problems faced by the Directorate. ``We need to see how much can be done,'' said Dr Nanjappa, who is keen to give a fillip to Ayurveda in the State, which is ranked high in good manufacturing compliance and drug analysis.