One year after the Parliament passed the bill amending the Indian Medicine Central Council (amendment) Act, the Union Health Ministry will soon issue the notification to formally recognise within the definition of Indian medicine the Sowa-Rigpa system that is practised in the sub-Himalayan regions in the country.

“The Department of Ayush has recognized the Sowa-Rigpa as Indian System of Medicine by amendment in the Indian Medicine Central Council Act, 1970. The physicians practicing Sowa-Rigpa are called Amchi in the local area of Ladakh. The amendment will come into force by notification in the official gazette which is under process,” sources said.

Following the passage of the bill, now the Government will issue notification to amend the Drugs and Cosmetics (D&C) Act and Rules to bring Sowa-Rigpa medicines under its ambit on the the pattern of other Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani drugs.

Under Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Development of AYUSH Hospital and Dispensaries, four Amchi units were supported in the State of Himachal Pradesh with the financial assistance of Rs. 2.00 lakh @Rs. 50,000 permit for procurement of essential drugs during 2009-10. The National Research Institute for Sowa Rigpa at Leh (Jammu & Kashmir) is functioning under Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS), extending healthcare services, besides research in the system, sources said, detailing the current initiatives in the sector.

The Parliament in August 2010 had adopted the bill to recognise the system of Sowa-Rigpa which is practised in sub-Himalayan region and other parts of the country besides Tibet, Mongolia, Japan and some other countries.

Though at present only a few companies are manufacturing the drugs for this system of medicine and scale of production is small, the government expects that there will be a rush of companies including major firms for grabbing a pie from the potential earnings. This will make the quality check a big task and hence the Act would be changed, sources said.

The government will also give special attention to the composition of the formulations and labelling of these drugs which will have also good export potential, against the backdrop of complaints raised about the ayurvedic drugs in some countries.