E-DRUG: Make medicines child size campaign (9)
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[The draft WHO Essential Medicines List for Children includes medicines that are appropriate for children together with precautions. Where unsafe medicines are used for children, or for adults, local regulations need to be put in place and enforced, alongside community and professional education. ..BS]
Hi,
While the cross registration of pediatric medicines has been recommended to fascilitate easy global availability, from safety point of view there is need to enforce banning of medicines if the same have been found to be dangerous, toxic and bannable in any population. Children are far too sensitive to be allowed to be administered the medicines which can not be ministered.
It has been the experience that lesser developed economies have been used to dump the medicines which have been banned in developed economies.The pharmaceutical companies find it easier to peddle such banned products in developing world because of lax norms, ignorance of DRAs, corruption and insensivity of the governments.
Nimesulide has been banned in many countries including its country of origin but it continues to sell in others. As if this is not enough, even pediatric formulations are available.Just because the children do not have the power to resist, they should not be taken for granted. It is abuse of the free market economy power that pharma industry be allowed to manufacture such junk and allowed to promote as value added medicine to entice the gullible.
Hence immediate action is required to ensure some mechanism whereby a banned medicine be reviewed by WHO and if found to be really dangerous, then recommended for banning world over, specially for children.
Dr Vijay Thawani, MD
Associate Professor in Pharmacology
Govt. Medical College, Nagpur, India.
"Vijay Thawani" <vijaythawani@rediffmail.com>