Plagued by overseas deaths, India's cough syrup exporters must now take govt mandated tests
The quality check of the cough syrups has been taken after India's image as the "pharmacy of the world" took a knock following the WHO alerts on contaminated cough syrups. Image used for representational purpose only. NEW DELHI: From June 1, all cough syrup exporters will have to undertake mandatory testing of their products at specified government laboratories before getting permission for the outbound shipments. The direction comes after three alerts issued by the World Health Organisation (WHO), in seven months, on contaminated India-made cough syrups. “The export of cough syrup shall be permitted to be exported subject to export samples being tested and production of a certificate of analysis issued by any of the laboratories, with effect from June 1, 2023,” the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said in a notification on Monday. The earmarked central government labs include Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission, Regional Drug Testing Lab (RDTL — Chandigarh), C...