The Government has decided to introduce ‘The Indian Medicine and Homoeopathy Pharmacy Central Council Bill, 2016’. The objective of this Bill is to set up regulatory framework at the Central as well as State level for standardization and quality control of education and practice of pharmacy in Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani Tibb and Homoeopathy and to maintain registers of the pharmacists. Provisions of the proposed Bill are distributed under seven chapters and 58 sections respectively for Definitions, Central Pharmacy Council and its Committees, Regulation of Pharmacy Education & Practice, State Pharmacy Authority and Registration of Pharmacists, Central Register of Pharmacists, Offences & Penalties and Miscellaneous.
The Government circulated the draft Bill to the States & Union Territories and also placed it on the website of the Ministry of AYUSH in February 2016 for inviting comments of the stakeholders and public within a stipulated timeframe. The received comments mainly pertained to experience-based registration of the pharmacists; qualification of the pharmacy teachers; qualification of the members of the Pharmacy council and license requirement for sale of drugs. After considering these comments the draft Bill has been sent to the Ministry of Law & Justice for final concurrence before the note for seeking approval of the Cabinet is circulated.
High Level Committee set up to examine working of regulatory bodies for AYUSH system of medicine
A Committee under the Chairmanship of Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog, Additional Principal Secretary to Prime Minister, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), NITI Aayog and Secretary, Ministry of AYUSH as members has been set up to examine the working of the regulatory bodies namely, Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM) and Central Council of Homoeopathy(CCH) and their governing legislations namely, Indian Medicine Central Council (IMCC) Act 1970 and Homoeopathy Central Council (HCC) Act 1973 respectively, for suggesting suitable reforms. AYUSH systems of medicine, including medical education are regulated by two statutory regulatory bodies namely, Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM) and Central Council of Homoeopathy (CCH) set up as per the provisions of Indian Medicine Central Council Act, 1970 and Homoeopathy Central Council Act, 1973 respectively. These regulatory bodies regulate education and practice of AYUSH systems of medicine through its subordinate regulations and also maintain central registers of Indian Medicine and Homoeopathy. The regulatory bodies prescribe Regulations for conduct of Under Graduate and Post Graduate courses in Indian System of Medicine and Homeopathy including Ayurveda and also prescribe minimum standard requirements for conduct of such courses. The persons having such recognised qualifications from recognised institutions are enrolled in the State / Central Registers of Indian Systems of Medicine and Homoeopathy, which entitles them to practice their respective System of Medicine. This information was given by the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for AYUSH, Shri ShripadYesso Naik in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha.