[india-drug] PIL filed against mass administration of DEC in Kerala

[Raj Vaidya <pharmhin@sancharnet.in>]

PIL filed against mass administration of DEC in Kerala
Tuesday, June 08, 2004 08:00 IST , Express Pharma Pulse
Our Bureau, Chennai

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Kerala High
Court against the State government's move to mass administer
Diethylcarbamazine citrate (DEC) tablets to 2.58 core people in the
state, as part of a WHO -Central Government initiative to eradicate
filariasis, it is learnt. 

According to sources, one N.Krishna Pillai, an Ayurvedic doctor from
Thiruvananthapuam approached the court yesterday citing the drug has
many side effects, and it should not be administered to majority of the
state population as the disease is confined only to some parts of the
state. 

The state Government so far has neither conducted elaborate studies and
surveys nor ensured adequate medical supervision for administering the
drug. Hence, the Government should be directed by the court to refrain
from the move, demanded in the petition. The court was likely to take
up the case, early next week, said sources. 

It may be noted that the state had postponed the Mass Drug
Administration (MDA) programme scheduled on June 5 in 11 districts of
the state, said to be for problems in the distribution chain. Many
NGOs, cultural leaders and experts opine it was documented in
scientific journals that DEC could cause adverse reactions like fever,
headache and nausea, allergic inflammation of the skin, encephalitis,
retinal hemorrhage etc. On the contrary, the Health Department sources
and a section of experts, including the State IMA chapter, maintain he
drug is safe for an MDA programme. 



Raj Vaidya, M.Pharm,
Community Pharmacist,
Hindu Pharmacy,
Cunha Rivara Road, P.B.No. 149,
Panaji - Goa - India 403001.
Tel : 91-832- 2223176, 2432903 (O), 2463926 (R).
Email : pharmhin@sancharnet.in 



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