India's pharma regulatory failures point to a deeper structural flaw

These are not independent, random occurrences. They are all pointers to a larger, more fundamental issue

The recent tragedy of the contaminated cough syrups, leading to heartbreaking and avoidable deaths of children both here and abroad is not an isolated incident. It is merely the latest, most horrific symptom in a continuing and distressingly predictable series of regulatory failures that plague India’s health sector. When one drills down, the pathology is not just in the failed product or the rogue manufacturer; it’s lodged deep in the very design of the regulatory machinery intended to protect the public.

 

The systemic rot is visible across the landscape. The cough syrup disaster, which indicts