The Prescription: 17th August Issue
PSM INDIA Capsules National Injections Drug Laws & Policy Injections Global Injections Pharma Injections PSM PillDRUG DOPES UpComing Events Editor’s Emulsion FAQ Laughter Dose Blog Addict
News Archive
EDITOR'S EMULSION

Independence Day
Wishing all my Indian readers a Very Happy Independence day!
My question to all here is …”Are we really living a life of freedom?” Unfortunately even though we proclaim ourselves a free country , we are still gripped by chains of a deadly menace called UNSAFE MEDICINES. It is our responsibilty as aware consumers that we fight this menace together and attain complete freedom! Read on to find out how we are prisoners to this menace.
In this issue, we focus on how our governement is tackling the issue of the EBOLA virus and creating awareness regarding the same . Read more on the same under National Injections. Also featured are the medicines that have been recalled and approved by the FDA under our DRUG DOPES section.
Unwind for a little laughter dose too towards the end of this issue.

If you have any suggestions, comments or queries, please email me at pooja@jagograhakjago.com. You may find our previous issues on our website jagograhakjago.com or in the news archive section of every issue of The PRESCRIPTION, incase you've missed any of them. You may also look us up on Facebook under Partnership for Safe Medicines India .

"Call PSM India toll free helpline 1800 - 11- 4424, to bring cases of spurious medicines or any kind of adverse drug reaction to the notice of the authorities. Please visit our website jagograhakjago.com if you wish to learn about us . To register a complaint kindly visit our consumer redressal website jagograhakjago.com

Happy Reading !
Stay Safe. Stay Healthy !

Pooja Khaitan
Chief Editor , The PRESCRIPTION Partnership for Safe Medicines India.

DOSE OF THE DAY

“A physician should not offer his services motivated by commercial considerations, but should do so out of his inherent, unadulterated love for humanity.”

Dr. Harsh Vardhan
Hon’ble Minister of Health and Family Welfare
Government of India

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PSM India Capsules
Release of report titled ”THE AWARE CONSUMER”
July 2014 : Mr. Keshav Desiraju, IAS, Secretary to the Government of India, Mr. G. Gurucharan, IAS, Additional Secretary to the Government of India, Department of Consumer Affairs, Mr. L. Mansingh, IAS (Retd.), Former Secretary to the Government of India and PSM INDIA founder, Mr.Bejon Misra released a report at the India International Centre, New Delhi, titled THE AWARE CONSUMER. More than 40 leading consumer organisations from 20 + States attended the launch of the report.
National Injections
EBOLA Virus Disease under intense surveillance by Health Ministry August, 2014: The Indian government is maintaining intensive surveillance to prevent the spread of the dreaded Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in the country. A control room with helpline numbers 23063205, 23061469 and 23061302 got operational this morning at the Health Ministry and dealt with 30 calls during the day. Dr Harsh Vardhan, Minister for Health, has clarified that India does not have any confirmed or even suspected Ebola virus affected person. WHO had informed that one Indian passenger had travelled on the same flight in which Ebola virus patient (foreign national) was travelling from Monrovia to Lagos. This Indian passenger is back in India.
MCI plan action against doctors for having nexus with diagnostic centres, pharmacies Hyderabad, August 2014: The Medical Council of India (MCI) has taken a serious note of doctors falsely projecting their professional speciality even when they are not specialised in any areas. The council is also viewing seriously the illegal nexus between doctors, diagnostic centres, pharmacy stores and super speciality hospitals to earn commissions against their professional ethics. “Doctors should abide to their professional ethics and should not cross the limits of their ethical dignity for the sake of earning money through commissions or by falsely projecting themselves as specialists. Read More
Complaint filed against Fortis for issuing ‘expired’ injection SAS Nagar, August 2014: A drug inspector has filed a complaint against Fortis Hospital, Mohali, in a local court, holding the hospital staff, who were about to administer an “expired” injection to a patient Balbir Kaur in April 2012, responsible. The drug inspector had lodged the complaint on July 22 and had named Col HS Chehal (retd), director of the hospital, Dinesh Chandra, in charge pharmacy, Seema, pharmacist, and Monika Thakur, staff nurse, in his complaint.
Unsafe syringes supplied to government hospitals by ‘approved’ firm in Odisha BHUBANESWAR, JULY 2014: In a shocking revelation, made by none other than the state Health minister, the disposable syringes supplied to the government hospitals across Odisha have been found to be of a poor and unsafe quality..
Maharashtra FDA seizes cardiac stents, abortion drugs in Nashik PUNE, August 2014: Officials of the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) seized Rs 1.5 crore worth of medicinal supply comprising imported cardiac stents and abortion drugs from a person in Nashik about four days ago. The man was caught selling the supply...
Drug Laws & Policy Injections
Commerce ministry defers implementation of barcoding on mono-cartons to April 1, 2015 Mumbai, Aug 2014: The Union commerce ministry has deferred the date of effect of implementation of barcoding on mono-cartons as secondary level packaging on export consignment of pharmaceuticals and drugs for tracing and tracking purpose to April 1, 2015. The date of implementation of bar-coding on mono-carton packaging as mentioned at Sl. No. 3(i) b of Public Notice No. 62(RE 2013)/2009-2014 dated 26.06.2014 will come into effect from April 1, 2015, Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) Pravir Kumar said.
DCGI issues safety alert against use of Dendriatic cells for treatment of cancer Mumbai, July 2014: The Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) has issued safety alerts against the use of Dendriatic cells for the treatment of cancer and has asked the two companies engaged in selling the medicine to stop collection and sale of Dendriatic cells. The DCGI's action comes in pursuance to the investigations carried out by the DCGI office at the facilities of the two companies for administration of Dendriatic cells for the treatment of cancer.
Centre takes initiative to promote indigenous technologies for diagnosis of TB & MDR/XDR–TB Mumbai, July 2014: The Union health ministry in association with the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has started joint venture for promoting 'Indigenous diagnostic technologies for diagnosis of TB and MDR/XDR–TB'. The objective of this joint initiative is to learn the status of the Indian indigenous technologies developed by the Indian researchers and discuss the way forward so that these can be made available/commercialised for larger use.
“Mainstreaming” AIDS awareness to reduce HIV infection rate Health, IT Ministries forge collaboration for last push against disease New Delhi, July,2014 - “Big is not necessarily beautiful, small messages for awareness building with prevention as focus works better in the case of AIDS control,” Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Health, said here today. At the signing ceremony of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MICT), Dr Harsh Vardhan observed, “Big hospitals may lead to better treatment, but if state-of-the-art IT education tools are used to disseminate information that will prevent killer infections, the investment is more worthwhile.”
Pharma Injections
Government to declare “National Hypertension Day” soon The Union Health Ministry has conceptualised dedicating a particular day of each year for highlighting the dangers of Hypertension, the silent killer which, according to World Health Organisation (WHO), accounts for 7 percent of disability adjusted life years worldwide, and 9.4 million deaths annually.
Koya Healthcare evolves first of its kind APS therapy for diabetes patients Hyderabad, July 2014: Hyderabad based Koya Healthcare’s Diabetes Care Clinics has evolved an innovative and advanced medical procedure called Artificial Pancreas System (APS) therapy for treating diabetes patients for the first time in India.

Dr Harsh Vardhan meets Yoga guru Ram Dev; “New health policy to place primacy on evidence-based treatment”

New Delhi, August , 2014 - “For the first time since 1947, the government’s health policy is going to lay primary emphasis on the Ayurveda Siddhanta. This is in tune with the times as World Health Organisation (WHO) has given considerable importance to Ayurveda in its activities related to traditional medicine,” Union Minister Health & Family Welfare, Dr Harsh Vardhan said at Haridwar, today.

Global Injections
Indictment of FedEx Corporation for Illegally Distributing Prescription Drugs July, 2014: The U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California today charged the FedEx Corporation with conspiring with two separate but related online pharmacy organizations to distribute controlled substances and prescription drugs to U.S. consumers without requiring their customers to have a valid prescription, as required by the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Agents from FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations worked closely with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), which led this investigation..
PharmaChk Device for Substandard, Counterfeit Drug Detection Receives Saving Lives at Birth Transition-to-Scale Grant Rockville, Md., August, 2014: With the potential to revolutionize how medicines regulators, customs agents, procurement agencies, warehouse personnel, health facilities, and other providers throughout the world detect poor-quality medicines, a new portable device called PharmaChk.. Read More
Drug Dopes
Maharashtra FDA recalls drugs batch after Bhiwandi kids scare MUMBAI, AUG 2014: The Food and Drug Administration has started recalling the batch of two antibiotics, following the use of which 18 children allegedly suffered adverse reactions at a Bhiwandi hospital. The department is also investigating for any local contamination.
Baxter recalls four lots of IV solutions July 2014: The IV solutions have been found to contain particulate matter identified as cellulosic fibers and/or plastics The lots being recalled were distributed worldwide to customers and distributors between February 2013 and June 2014 Related Articles Digital Non-Mydriatic Fundus Camera Starpharma appoints Robert Thomas as board member India’s deputy drug controller held for bribe Study on efficient way to crunch sequencing data Singapore

FDA announces voluntary nationwide recall of all non-expired sterile drugs from Unique Pharmaceuticals

July, 2014 : The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is alerting health care professionals and consumers of a voluntary recall of all non-expired drug products produced for sterile use by Unique Pharmaceuticals Ltd., of Temple, Texas.

FDA Approves Orbactiv (oritavancin) to Treat Skin and Skin Structure Infections

August ,2014 : The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Orbactiv (oritavancin), a new antibacterial drug to treat adults with skin infections.

SRL Diagnostics introduces Butterfly Needles to make blood test pain free

Mumbai, August 2014: In an endeavour to minimise the pain and psychological fear associated with a Blood Test, SRL Diagnostics has recently announced the use of high-end technology needles named, Butterfly Needles, making diagnosis Pain Free.

Upcoming Events
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PSM PILL
PSM's 5th annual conference will be held onSeptember 18, 2014 at the KnightConference Center at The Newseum, 555 Pennsylvania Av., NW, Washington, D.C. Each year, the PSM Interchange brings together policymakers, pharmaceutical manufacturers, patient advocates, law enforcement, healthcare professionals, and anti-counterfeiting companies to discuss the problem and solutions to the global scourge of pharmaceutical counterfeiting. Tickets on sale jagograhakjago.com

Frequently Asked Questions Q1. What is meant by medication error?
Answer: Medication errors are unintentional errors in the prescribing, dispensing, administration or monitoring of a medicine while under the control of a healthcare professional, patient or consumer. They are the most common single preventable cause of adverse events in medication practice. Mistakes can be action-based error (slip of the pen in writing by Doctor), knowledge-based errors, technical errors and memory-based errors (‘lapses’).

Q2. How to avoid medication mistakes?
Answer: Medication error causes inaccurate or incomplete diagnosis of a disease, injury, syndrome, infection, or other ailment. PSM suggests some simple measures to avoid such problems-
• Find out the name of your medication written in your prescription from either doctor or pharmacist.
• Know about the use of the medicine
• Ask questions about how to use the medication or ask the consulting doctor to write down instructions or other information that is important to know about the medication.
• Read medicine labels and follow directions.
• Take the medicines on time and only by the method prescribed by physician
• Keep all of health care providers informed so that concomitant use of same medicines is avoided or drug –drug interaction and contraindications can be escaped.
• Keep the list of your medications with you so that in case of emergency it can be used for reference of medication history.

Laughter Dose
Blog Addicts
Dr. Nafisa, Health care activist says : I appreciate PSM-India for it’s strive towards eradication of fake medicines from India.
Smriti Care Foundation blogs: “PSM has brought in the vision to fight for spurious medicine”.
Dr. Tiwari, patron of We care foundation Speaks : ‘PSM has created a dream to build a nation of counterfeit free medicine. We should all come forward and work for it together so that we can soon accomplish the goal!
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Disclaimer : Our newsletter endeavors to compile patient safety information from various sources . PSM India may not be held responsible for any article published in The Prescription.