The Ministry of Ayush has set up a working group to develop quality standards and regulatory guidelines for Sowa-Rigpa, a traditional medicine system practised mainly in the Himalayan regions. The group held its first meeting on September 18 at the Pharmacopoeia Commission for Indian Medicine & Homoeopathy (PCIM&H) in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh.
What the working group will do
The Sowa-Rigpa Working Group, constituted under PCIM&H, will create detailed documents to standardise and regulate Sowa-Rigpa medicines. These will include formularies (lists of approved preparations), pharmacopoeias (quality and testing standards), and other regulatory papers needed to ensure Sowa-Rigpa drugs meet safety and quality requirements.
The group will work within India’s legal framework for medicines, specifically the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and its rules. The initiative aims to bring Sowa-Rigpa into line with how other traditional Indian medicine systems are regulated by the government.
The meeting was chaired by Dr. Kousthubha Upadhyaya, Director of PCIM&H. Four Sowa-Rigpa experts attended, including Dr. Padma Gurmet, Director of the National Institute of Sowa-Rigpa in Leh, Ladakh. Dr. Gurmet thanked the Government of India for formally beginning this work on Sowa-Rigpa standards.
What this means for you
If you use or prescribe Sowa-Rigpa medicines, this development will eventually provide clearer information about what is in these preparations and how safe and effective they are. The standardised guidelines will help ensure that Sowa-Rigpa drugs sold in India meet consistent quality benchmarks. For practitioners and manufacturers of Sowa-Rigpa, the new rules will create a clear regulatory path to follow when producing and marketing these traditional medicines.