The Supreme Court (SC) has suggested that the AYUSH Ministry should establish a centralised dashboard to both publicise and track the progress of complaints related to misleading advertisements for medicinal or allied healthcare products.
A Bench comprising Justices Hima Kohli and Sandeep Mehta proposed a suggestion after observing numerous challenges in tracking the progress of such complaints. These difficulties are particularly evident when complaints are transferred between State licensing authorities from one State to another, reports stated.
This creates challenges for prosecutions under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, as there is no readily available data on actions taken in response to such complaints.
The Court was hearing on a case filed by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) against Patanjali Ayurved, along with its promoters, Baba Ramdev and Acharya Balkrishna, for publishing misleading advertisements targeting allopathic medicine.
Reports highlighted that the case evolved from addressing only Patanjali’s lapses to encompassing broader concerns. These include misleading advertisements by others, the liability of celebrity influencers endorsing misleading ads, and unethical practices within modern medicine, etc.
Advocate Shadan Farasat has been appointed as amicus curiae to assist the Court by gathering and organising data provided by various States and regulatory authorities concerning these issues.
The court to note of various concerns raised by the amicus, including the development of a dashboard to track progress in inter-state consumer complaints, the requirement for prior approval of advertisements to prevent misbranding, and the need to streamline the handling of consumer complaints related to healthcare products.
