Kathmandu, October 22

Ayurvedic practitioners have stressed the need for mass production of herbs and quality control assurance to promote ayurvedic medicines in the country.

Dr Rajendra Kumar Giri, managing director of Singadurbar Vaidyakhana Development Committee, said lack of quality raw materials had hindered production of ayurvedic medicines. “A few years back, we used to manufacture as many as 200 products. Now despite increasing demand, we have been able to produce only 60 types of products,” Dr Giri said. “Sometimes we can’t even produce medicines which are on high demand due to lack of quality herbs,” he added.

SVDC is the oldest government-owned ayurvedic medicine manufacturer. There are around 77 registered companies that manufacture herbal medicines in Nepal and import other ayurvedic medicines from abroad.

President of Ayurveda Doctor’s Association of Nepal Dr Prakash Gyawali opines that the government should be able to check the quality of herbal products manufactured by such companies. He also said, “The number of ayurvedic medicine manufacturers has increased but the government has failed to implement quality control assurance strictly.”

Out of 77 manufacturers only one company has received Good Manufacturing Practice Certificate so far. The largest medicine manufacturer SVDC, which is said to be working to receive GMP certificate for the last four years, has not received it yet.

Dr Rajendra Kumar Giri, director at Department of Drug Administration, who is also responsible for maintaining quality, said GMP was an optional certificate and provided only if a company demanded it.