Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru

Bengaluru, Aug 6: Health minister Dinesh Gundu Rao on Monday announced that all medicines under the department of Ayush—covering Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy—will now be regulated by the drugs control division of the Food Safety and Drug Administration (FDA) in Karnataka.

Speaking to reporters, the minister said the move aims to enhance the quality and safety of traditional medicines. “This step will ensure that Ayush medicines adhere to the same rigorous standards as allopathic drugs,” he said.

Highlighting recent reforms in drug safety, Rao said that the time taken to withdraw substandard medicines from the market has been drastically reduced. “Earlier, it took around 30 days to recall a medicine flagged as Not of Standard Quality (NSQ). We have now brought that down to just two days,” he stated. He added that the prompt recall is essential to prevent public consumption of potentially harmful drugs.

In June alone, drugs worth Rs 40.48 lac that failed to meet safety norms were seized from across the state. In July, 1,433 samples were tested at state-run labs in Bengaluru, Hubballi, and Ballari, of which 67 were found to be substandard, leading to 29 cases being registered. A special enforcement drive conducted on June 24 and 25 resulted in 279 pharmacy inspections, 231 show cause notices, and 15 compliance notices, the minister informed.

Rao also outlined progress in digital governance within the department. He said that all applications related to blood centres are now processed through the Online National Drugs Licensing System (ONDLS), with licenses being issued digitally. Additionally, an online platform has been introduced to issue Recognised Medical Institution (RMI) certificates for centres handling essential narcotic drugs.

Food safety drive

As part of intensified food safety inspections, 1,557 street food vendors were checked in July. Officials inspected fruits, vegetables, bakery items, bottled water, and spice powders. Of these, 406 samples violated safety standards, resulting in spot fines totalling Rs 44,500.

At 186 bus stations across Karnataka, 889 food outlets were inspected, with 206 of them found breaching food safety norms.

The minister noted that samples of kebabs collected from Empire Restaurant were found to contain banned artificial colours, including Sunset Yellow. “The restaurant has since removed artificial colouring from its kebabs,” he said.

Rao urged the public to remain vigilant about food quality and report any instance of artificial colouring or unhygienic food being served at eateries.