Ministry of Ayush to amend First Schedule to add more books on Ayush drugs-- Gireesh Babu, New Delhi The Ministry of Ayush has issued a draft notification to amend the First Schedule of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 to expand the list of authoritative books prescribing the formulae of drugs for the Ayurveda, Siddha, and Unani Tibb systems of medicines. The books include more vernacular ones and the list is now elaborated with the author\\'s name and the language in which it has been written. According to the definition under the Act, Ayurveda, Siddha or Unani drugs are those medicines which include all medicines intended for internal or external use for or in the diagnosis, treatment, mitigation or prevention of disease or disorder in human beings or animals, and manufactured exclusively in accordance with the formulae described in, the authoritative books specified in the First Schedule. The Ministry, in its draft notification issued on February 7, said that the amendment to the First Schedule is published for information of all persons likely to be affected. It also served notice to all stakeholders that the said draft amendment shall be taken into consideration on or after the expiry of a period of three months from the date on which the publication of the notification in the official Gazette. "Any objections and suggestions which may be received from any person in respect of draft amendment before the expiry of the aforesaid period shall be considered by the Central government, " it added. The draft amendment proposes to substitute the reference texts for the Ayurvedic, Siddha and Unani Tibbs systems of medicines, listed in the First Schedule. For the Ayurveda System, the list has been expanded to 227 books, adding some of the vernacular books including around 26 books in Telugu, around 12 in Malayalam, five each in Hindi and Marathi, among others, detailing the name of the original author. The section of ayurvedic texts earlier had around 54 books along with Ayurvedic Formulary of India and its parts, Ayurveda Sara Sangraha, Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India and its parts. For Siddha System, the number of books has been increased to 88, adding the original author\\'s name to the list. There were around 31 books in the Schedule earlier, from this system of medicine. For the Unani Tibb System, a total of 112 books have been added, including Urdu translation of some of the books, in the draft amendment. Earlier, according to the Act updated by the central drug regulator in the year 2022, there were 14 books under this system of medicine, listed in the First Schedule of the Act. It may be noted that the Ministry, in December, 2024, has notified amendment to the Act to add books on Homoeopathic and Sowa-rigpa systems of medicines in the first schedule of the Act. It has added French Homoeopathic Pharmacopoeia and the European Pharmacopoeia under the standards on which the imports and manufacturing of homoeopathic drugs will be allowed in the country. The amendment added 20 books from the Homoeopathic system, including the Homoeopathic Pharmacopoeia India, Materia Medica Pura volumes and other books of Samuel Hahneman, known as the creator of the Homoeopathic system of medicines. A total of 34 books from the Sowa-Rigpa system of medicine were also added to the Act, through the amendment in December, last year. [17:20, 2/11/2025] Dinesan Ji ACPL: Ministry of Ayush revises list of poisonous substances under Drugs Rules, 1945 Gireesh Babu, New Delhi. for more information visit acplgroupindia.co.in email info@acplgroupindia.co.in Mobile 9266665201