The pharmaceutical industry in India has raised vehement objection to the Central Government move to mandate the industry to print bi-lingual labels for all the drugs in Hindi and English from April 1, 2006.
The deadline for markings in Hindi is October 2, 2006, as announced by the Union Minister for Chemicals & Fertilisers Ram Vilas Paswan at the first meeting of the Pharma Advisory Forum held at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi, last week.
Talking to Pharmabiz, Ajit Dangi, director general, Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI) said the move is detrimental to the interest of its members and the organisation has informed the government about its opposition. Many of the OPPI's members import drugs from overseas manufacturing locations and it is practically impossible to manufacture drugs with Hindi labels at these locations. Space constraint is another problem to print bi-lingual or multiple language labels as numerous drugs are manufactured in small sizes. Drug controllers could also raise objections on various counts, noted Dangi.
The Indian Drugs Manufacturers Association (IDMA) has decided to welcome the government move, provided, the manufacturers are allowed exemption from printing the name of the medicine, the cost, the manufacturing and expiry date in English as well as in Hindi on drug labels. In a communication to the Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers, Suresh G Kare, president, IDMA noted that with the given space available for printing, it is practically impossible to print all the details in English as well as in Hindi. Earlier IDMA had informed the government of its willingness to agree to have bi-lingual labels to facilitate easier identification of the product by lay patients, provided the government allows the conditions put forward by the association.
"We are rather surprised to understand from newspaper reports about a statement made by the Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Ram Vilas Paswan that IDMA has welcomed the suggestion to print the name of the medicine, cost, manufacturing and expiry date in English as well as Hindi on the drug labels," said the IDMA president in his letter to the director, Union Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilisers.
S.Lakshminarayanan, president, Tamil Nadu Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (TNPMA) said the move would benefit neither the pharma industry, nor the consumers in South India. Majority of the people of Tamil Nadu lack proficiency in Hindi and the situation is the same in many other South Indian states like Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The situation could be the same in many other states where regional languages have prominence over the national language.
From the industry point of view, the move would necessitate pharma manufacturers in these states to appoint 'Hindi experts', besides causing considerable financial burden to change the existing labels, he said.