Pune: The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday issued an order allowing the sale of Saridon and two other drugs, namely Piriton Expectorant and Dart, for now.
A week back, the Union Ministry of Health had banned the manufacture, sale or distribution of 328 varieties of combination drugs manufactured to keep a check on the irrational use of fixed-dose combination (FDC) medicines.
Doctors and pharmacists from the city said the drugs should be banned and over the counter use should be discouraged, as it may harm the health of patients.
A FDC is a combination drug, which includes two or more active pharmaceutical ingredients combined in a single dosage form, which is manufactured and distributed in fixed doses. Dr Parthiv Sanghvi, Secretary, Indian Medical Association (IMA), Maharashtra, said that no drug should be given over the counter.
“It is our firm belief that no drug should be sold over the counter. It is for the benefit of the patient. We have come across a lot of patients, who have suffered due to reactions from regular drugs as they self-administer them. Hence, all drugs should be given only with prescriptions,” said Sanghvi.
He added that giving medicines is work of the doctor. “Hence, no patient should be allowed to take medicines on their own. In countries such as United Kingdom (UK), medicines are not given over the counter. A prescription is mandatory. The same should be followed in India,” added Dr Sanghvi. Expressing similar sentiments, Ketan Patil, a city-based pharmacist said that the decision is very disturbing.
“Firstly, the drugs were banned and now the three drugs are allowed. FDC like Saridon should be banned just like they are banned in other parts of the world. The major problem with these drugs is that they are combination drugs. The patient cannot understand the allergic reaction of any one drug from FDC, which may cause trouble. The government should rethink and ban such drugs,” said Patil.
He added FDC has one or more drugs combined. “Hence, the patient cannot understand, which one causes allergy and which one does not. Hence, using a single drug medicine is advisable. Also, the problem is of the frequency of administration of the dose. More drug interactions, more adverse drug effects. Also, in FDC, dosage alteration is not possible,” added Patil.
Dr Amit Bhatt, a city-based oncologist, said that first and foremost, multi-drug combinations are made by pharmaceutical companies for the benefit of the patient so that instead of consuming three tablets containing three different medicines, a single combination pill does the job.
