-The Indian Express NITI Aayog meeting notes it will bring in ‘more control, curb growth’ New Delhi: Successive governments in India have neglected the medical devices sector. For over 12 years, a proposed legislation, the Medical Device Regulation Bill, has awaited enactment. Advertising The Bill was first drafted in 2006 when the UPA was in power. It was never legislated. Under the NDA, a Group of Ministers (GoM) was constituted under Finance Minister Arun...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Union health ministry has banned the sale of formulations with oxytocin through retail chemists and restricted domestic manufacture to public sector companies amid concerns about the clandestine manufacture and sale of the drug, believed to be misused in the dairy sector. The new rules come into effect from July 1. The government has also banned the import of oxytocin and its formulations, but public and private sector...

-PTI Mumbai: Doctors in Maharashtra will now have to mention generic names of medicines as against prescribing only a certain brand, giving patients a choice. With a generic prescription, patients can go in for low-cost options for the same medicine. The state government, in a statement yesterday, said as per a decision of the state medical council under clause 1.5 of the Indian Medical Council Regulations, doctors should prescribe drugs with generic names...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The sale of drug combinations containing last-resort antibiotics is rising faster than overall antibiotics sales in India, health researchers have said in a study that also highlights the government's failure to stop the sale of irrational and unapproved antibiotic cocktails. While total antibiotics sales in India rose 26 per cent over a four-year period, says the study, there was a 174 per cent increase in the sales of...

-Firstpost.com A new directive from the road transportation ministry forbids taxi drivers from picking up drunk passengers, according to a report in The New Indian Express. According to the Motor Vehicles driving regulation 2017: “The driver shall strictly comply with the laws for the time being in force relating to the prohibition on the consumption of alcohol and drugs and smoking, and also ensure compliance there by the other crew, riders and...