57th Convocation: 293 doctors graduate from St John's Medical College, Bengaluru
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New Indian Express
6 hours ago
- New Indian Express
All Ayush medicines now to be brought under FDA: Karnataka Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao
BENGALURU: Karnataka Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao said on Monday that all medicines under the Department of Ayush, including those in Ayurvedic, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy streams, will now be brought under the drugs control wing of the Food Safety and Drug Administration (FDA). Addressing reporters here, he said this is specifically to improve the quality of traditional medicines. He said the Health Department has reduced the time it took to recall substandard medicines from the market. Earlier, once a drug was flagged as Not of Standard Quality (NSQ), it could take up to 30 days to take it back from pharmacies and distributors. Now, that time has been cut to just two days. Rao said this is crucial because such medicines, if left on shelves, may continue to be taken by patients, posing serious health risks. In June alone, drugs worth Rs 40.48 lakh that did not meet the safety standards were recalled and seized across the state. The department noted that in July, 1,433 drug samples were analysed by laboratories in Bengaluru, Hubballi and Ballari. Of them, 67 were found to be substandard with the department filing 29 cases. A special enforcement drive was held on June 24 and 25, during which 279 inspections were conducted at drug stores across the state. During the drive, 231 show cause notices were issued to offending establishments. In all, 15 compliance notices were served, Rao said. On digitisation of services, the minister said all applications related to blood centres are now processed through the Online National Drugs Licensing System (ONDLS) portal, with licenses issued exclusively online. In addition, an online platform has been launched to issue Recognised Medical Institution (RMI) certificates required by institutions authorised to handle essential narcotic drugs. Food samples In July, 1,557 street food vendors were inspected. Items such as fruits, vegetables, water bottles, bakery products and spice powders were checked. Of them, 406 violated safety norms. Spot fines amounting to Rs 44,500 were collected from the violators. At 186 bus stations across the state, 889 food stalls were inspected. Of them, 206 violated safety norms. Rao said as part of the drive, the department collected six samples of kebab from Empire Restaurant and all contained banned colours, including Sunset Yellow. He said the restaurant is now serving kebabs without colours. The minister also urged people to seek good quality food and report cases where they find eateries serving artificially coloured food items.
Hindustan Times
10 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
Restaurants use unsafe colouring agent: Karnataka minister on quality food
Karnataka Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao on Monday appealed to people not to be "fooled" by attractive and colourful dishes, but to insist on safe and quality food. He cited the recent testing of six samples belonging to the Empire Group of Restaurants, which turned out to be unsafe due to the use of banned synthetic colouring.(PTI) He cited the recent testing of six samples belonging to the Empire Group of Restaurants, which turned out to be unsafe due to the use of banned synthetic colouring. "Despite repeated warnings, the restaurant group continued to use the unsafe colouring agent. Only after legal notices were sent did the colour go from red to yellow," the health minister told reporters during his weekly media briefing. There was no response from the Empire Group of Restaurants. According to the minister, better quality food and drugs can become the norm only if people insist on quality goods. "Yes, the government needs to do its part and tackle this legally, but people too should cultivate quality conscious as culture," he said. The minister also said the health department held a video conference on July 30 with cooking oil manufacturers to insist that the trans-fat level should not exceed 2 per cent. "We told them that if it exceeds 2 per cent, strong action will be taken against them," he added. Dinesh Gundu Rao said the oil manufacturers were also urged to sell used cooking oil (UCO) to manufacturers like Pyrene Industries, which converts UCO into biodiesel. According to 2024-25 data, 28,73,124 litres of UCO were used to manufacture biodiesel and soap, he said. "We want this figure to increase substantially so that UCO does not go back into the market for cooking purposes," he added. Rao said the Karnataka government has merged the enforcement division of Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani (ASU) medicines under the AYUSH Department, as well as the existing AYUSH drug testing laboratory in Bengaluru, with Drug Control Division of the Food Safety and Drug Administration Department for better functioning of the Health Department. According to him, the government's proposed app to control drug safety is expected to be functional by the end of this month. "With this app, we can immediately withdraw defective drugs, as we can track at distributor level. So, we can put an immediate stop to further sale of that drug," said the minister. He said, once the app is in force, they will expand its scope. "Next will be to take it to the pharmacy level. We want to onboard every pharmacy on the app," he added. At present, the recall procedure takes two days, he said, citing the recent recall of nearly 40 lakh drugs in two days. "This too, we had made a breakthrough with the help of a software. Earlier, it used to take nearly 30 days to recall batches of failed drugs from the market," he added. The minister also said work is progressing at expected pace in bringing the private ambulances and mobile medical units under the ambit of Karnataka Private Medical Establishments (KPME) Act. "We will be coming out with an amendment soon," he added.
Time of India
14 hours ago
- Time of India
Weeks before Ganesha festival, Bengaluru hotels warned about oil reuse
Bengaluru: The commissioner of food safety and drug administration has directed all hotels and bakeries not to repeatedly reuse cooking oil and, instead, hand over the same to RUCO (Repurpose Used Cooking Oil) agencies to be converted into biodiesel or soap. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The directive comes in the backdrop of a drop in collection of used cooking oil: the state is now receiving only around 1.5 lakh litres per month for conversion into biodiesel, compared to last year's average monthly collection of 2.3 lakh litres. In the last four months, the two RUCO agencies (which have been registered by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India) have received just over 6 lakh litres. With just weeks to go for the Ganesha festival, food department officials fear that used cooking oil, which is discarded by large users, end up finding their way into roadside hotels and snack-manufacturing units. Health minister Dinesh Gundu Rao said on Monday: "The oil supplied to RUCO agencies should have increased, but that's not the case. We want food quality to be better to prevent trans fat in day-to-day meals. " The food department has also asked hotels to strictly give their used oil to RUCO agencies to prevent their reuse. Dushyant Patel, owner of Pyrene Industries, a central govt-enrolled RUCO agency for biodiesel manufacturing in Karnataka, observed that there has been a stagnation in used oil coming in over the past year. "All over India, there is an initiative to avoid the use of reused cooking oil — after a few uses in hotels, it goes down to the street vendor who buys it for a 30% discount. There's a set limit of times oil can be used, but people are using it beyond that, and it is definitely getting back into the market — even into the manufacturing of new oil. " At a meeting that took place Monday, food safety commissioner Srinivas K instructed all cooking oil manufacturing unit owners to maintain hygiene and sell fortified cooking oil to the public. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now GK Shetty, president of Karnataka State Hotels' Association, said the association has reminded hoteliers from time to time to keep their bills and give their used oil to FSSAI-registered agencies. "A Dharshini (quick-service restaurant) would use 5-15 litres of oil a day. While the buying cost of fresh oil is Rs 125-140 a litre, when we sell it to RUCO agencies, we receive Rs 65-75 a litre," he said, adding that there are some hotels that end up reusing oil as a matter of survival. Srinivas said reused oil collection usually increases during the festive season, which is due in the months to come.
