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The Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC), Ghaziabad, on Saturday inked an MoU with the Jharkhand State Pharmacy Council (JSPC) to promote safe and rational medicine use and strengthen pharmacovigilance in Jharkhand. The Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC), Ghaziabad, is an autonomous institution under the Union Health Ministry. Through this collaboration, IPC and JSPC will work together to build the capacity of registered pharmacists in areas related to adverse drug reaction (ADR) reporting, pharmacovigilance and materiovigilance practices, and the safe use of medicines, a health ministry statement said. The partnership envisions strengthening the utilisation of the National Formulary of India (NFI) as a standard reference document across healthcare facilities in Jharkhand and promoting its systematic use by pharmacists to support rational dispensing and safe medication practices. It further includes coordinated efforts to organise awareness programmes for hospital and community
Amid child deaths linked to a toxic cough syrup in Madhya Pradesh, a government hospital here is now facing a complaint over worms allegedly found in a bottle of antibiotic medicine given to a child, officials said on Thursday. Following a complaint by a woman whose child was given the medicine, the entire stock of Azithromycin antibiotic at the government hospital in Morar town of Gwalior district has been sealed and samples have been sent to a laboratory in Bhopal for testing, they said. Azithromycin antibiotic's oral suspension is commonly given to children for various infections. According to officials, the medicine was generic and manufactured by a Madhya Pradesh-based company. Drug inspector Anubhuti Sharma said, "A woman at the government hospital in Morar complained of worms in a bottle of Azithromycin oral suspension." Although the bottle of medicine that the woman had brought was open, the matter was immediately investigated, she said. All 306 bottles of this medicine,
One person died and around 70 others suffered from vomiting and diarrhoea at the Telangana government's Institute of Mental Health (IMH) here, officials said. The incident occurred on Tuesday, prompting an investigation into it. The patient who died was found unresponsive on Tuesday morning. Despite efforts by medical staff on duty to revive him with CPR, he was later declared dead at the state-run Osmania General Hospital (OGH), Hyderabad District Collector Anudeep Durishetty, who visited the IMH, told reporters. Nearly 70 other patients have reported vomiting and diarrhoea. Two patients whose blood pressure was low were admitted to the OGH and their condition was not serious, he said. The remaining patients were under observation in the mental hospital and a special team of doctors has been called to attend to them. All the patients are stable, he said. The district collector said water samples from the source in the IMH were sent to the state government's Institute of Prevent
Paracetamol, a common over-the-counter medication, may increase the risk of gastrointestinal, heart- and kidney-related complications among adults aged 65 and above, a new study has found. Taken commonly for treating mild-to-moderate fever, paracetamol is also the first drug recommended for treating osteoarthritis -- a chronic condition causing pain, stiffness and swelling in the joints due to wear-and-tear -- as it is considered effective, relatively safe and accessible. However, some studies have provided evidence to contest the effectiveness of paracetamol in relieving pain while others have shown increased risks of gastrointestinal side effects, such as ulcers and bleeding, from prolonged use. The latest study, conducted by researchers from the University of Nottingham, UK, found that paracetamol use was linked to a 24 per cent and 36 per cent increase in risk of peptic ulcer bleeding (bleeding due to ulcer in the digestive tract) and lower gastrointestinal bleeding, ...