Ministry of Ayush has taken a significant step to achieve “One
Herb, One Standard”. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between
Pharmacopoeia Commission for Indian Medicine and Homoeopathy (Ministry of
Ayush) and Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (Ministry of Health & Family
Welfare) today in New Delhi for Inter-Ministerial cooperation for promotion and
facilitation of “One Herb, One Standard”.
Prof (Vaidya) P. K. Prajapati, Director (In-Charge), PCIM&H
and Mr Rajeev Singh Raghuvanshi, Secretary-cum-Scientific Director signed the
MoU in the presence of Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, Secretary, Ministry of Ayush.
On this occasion,Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, secretary, Ministry of
Ayush said, “The primary objective of this MoU is the development of
cooperative efforts between PCIM&H and IPC to promote public health by
facilitating the development of harmonized Herbal drug standards. Since both
PCIM&H and IPC are working with the common cause, it is logical and
meaningful to harmonize the standards to achieve “One Herb – One Standard”.
This MoU will further facilitate collaboration for promoting
exchange of information in the area of standardization of Traditional medicine
by sharing of scientific information and drug raw materials/extracts, seminars,
workshops, training and brainstorming programs. The sole authority of
publication of monographs categorized under the “one herb one standard” will
lie with PCIM&H only. The monograph(s), as per the MoU, developed by
PCIM&H and IPC will be identified accordingly; IPC’s contribution in the
respective monographs shall be recognized at appropriate place. The technical
content of the monographs will be jointly developed by PCIM&H and IPC.
Hence, these monographs will have same legal sanctity as published in ASU&H
pharmacopoeia and IP.
Ministry of Ayush believes that this harmonization of standards
will fulfill the objective of “One Herb, One Standard and One Nation” and
improve ease of doing business in India and also improve overall trade of
Indian botanicals. It will prove a significant step towards Atmanirbhar Bharat
as promoted by Prime Minister of India.
On this occasion, Prof. (Vaidya) P. K. Prajapati, Director
(In-Charge), PCIM&H said, “This MoU will enable publication of monographs,
which will be beneficial to everyone. A joint committee will be constituted for
the selection of medicinal plants and their constituent marker/s for carrying
out other related technical work.”
Mr Rajeev Singh Raghuvanshi, Secretary-cum-Scientific
Director, IPC said, “This MoU is
going to provide an opportunity to all stakeholders like manufacturers,
researchers and regulators in herbal medicine to get world class monographs to
be used in their respective areas. It’s an opportunity for IPC to do deeper
research in the area of herbal medicine especially in quality domain and
contribute towards public health”
Presently there are
different standards as well as different analytical methods published in
ASU&H Pharmacopoeias when compared with Indian Pharmacopoeia (IP). Ministry
of Ayush desires to remove this ambiguity by through “One Herb - One Standard”
initiative. Through this MoU each monograph will have Indian Standards along
with the international quality requirements, so that all Indian quality
standards become contemporary with the global standards for the same
botanicals.