The Unani Pharmacopoeia of India (Part-1, Volume-4)

The national policy on Indian systems of medicine recognizes Unani Medicine as well as Ayurveda. Yoga & Naturopathy, Siddha and Homoeopathy as an integral part of the country's health care delivery organization The Government of India has since Independence, been extending increasing funds and support for the multifaceted development of these systems. The 11th Five-year Plan has newer schemes for the all round growth of Unani Medicine along with other indigenous systems of healthcare. And at present India is the world leader as far as Unani Medicine is concerned. The country with the largest network of educational, research and healthcare institutions of this system is in a position to cater to the growing international demand for the system as well as the products used therein.
The system uses drugs of natural origin, majority of which come from plants. It also employs drugs of animal and mineral origin. The drugs used in Unani system are devoid of any major side-effects and therefore are safe for use and are cost-effective too. However, there is a need to maintain purity, quality and safety of Unani as well as other traditional medicines through rigorous scientific testing and standardization. It is absolutely essential to lay down pharmacopoeial standards for both single and compound drugs to bring them within the purview of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, as amended in 1964.
The Government had set up the Unani Pharmacopoeia Committee (UPC) in 1964 to lay down principles and standards for the preparation of Unani drugs, and also tests of identity, quality and purity of these drugs, leading to the preparation of the official Unani Pharmacopoeia of India. In 1970, a Pharmacopoeial Laboratory for Indian Medicine (PLIM) was also established at Ghaziabad (UP) mainly to work for evolving standards for Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha drugs. Concerned with the qualities of AYUSH products it has recently been made mandatory to test all formulations for their heavy metal contents and for microbial contaminants.
The work relating to development of standards for Unani drugs was taken up by the different Drug Standardization Research Units (DSRUS) of the Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine (CCRUM). The CCRUM has over the past 28 years of its functioning grown into an apex body of research and development in Unani Medicine. Now that the CCRUM has also been declared secretariat for the UPC, the Council is expected to contribute significantly to the Unani Pharmacopoeia of India.
So far three volumes of the first part of the Unani Pharmacopoeia of India have been brought out containing 45. 50 and 53 drugs, respectively. The present fourth volume carries Pharmacopoeial standards for 50 other Unani single drugs.
I place on record my appreciation to the Directors and scientific staff of PLIM. Ghaziabad and CCRUM, and the experts associated with the Unani Pharmacopoeia Committee for their contribution in bringing out these volumes of the Unani Pharmacopoeia of I hope, the work regarding compound drugs would now be taken up in a time bound manner.

Unani System of Medicine has distinction of being a scientific system and its practitioners have best innovative in therapeutics and carried out clinical trials out of the local foes from the countries has passed through and discovered newer medicines and added to the classical literature scent tubes, practitioners med to write prescriptions exclusively for a patient based on the diag. At that time it was customary to prepare the formulation either by the practitioner himself or by his pharmacist (“athar” in Arabic) Extreme care was taken regarding the ingredients used in the medicinal to maintain best quality. They were quite selective and had attached great importance regarding the origin of medicinal substances in order to have maximum potency of the resultant formulations. Gradually this established practice was changed.
Urbanization led to neglect of development and maintenance of forest and intern the availability of rich flora. A new trend was setup: agencies for supply of crude drugs were established. In this setup the Unani practitioners could no longer process and prepare their own medicines but started depending on pharmaceutical houses run commercially and on supplier of crude drugs to the extent they needed. The introduction of this new trend in the manufacturing of such type of products has influenced the quality of products tremendously There was not any government control on the manufacturer of pharmaceutical houses to ensure the quality of the medicines marketed. Now the concept of GLP/GMP/ GCP has already been made mandatory for the manufacture of Unani formulations in order to ensure their quality.
The Government of India constituted a committee under the Chairmanship of Lt. Col. RN. Chopra in 1946, which had gone into the question of need for proper identification of plants used in Indian Systems of Medicine, control over collection and distribution of crude drugs and made positive recommendation for compilation of pharmacopoeias. After independence not only the Unani education. but also Unani drugs, their marketing and manufacturing was given a concrete shape. In compliance with the recommendation of various committees constituted by Union Government, the Central Council for Research in Indian Medicine and Homoeopathy (CCRIMH) was established in 1969 by the Government of India for Research in all aspects including Drug Standardization in Indian Medicine and Homoeopathy In 1978, this Council was divided into four research Councils and the research work in Unani System of Medicine was entrusted to Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine.
The Pharmacopoeial Laboratory of Indian Medicine (PLIM), Ghaziabad was established in 1970 for testing and standardization of single drugs and compound formulations of Indian System of Medicine. Unfortunately, till date there is no component for Unani System of Medicine at this laboratory Despite repeated efforts by Unani Pharmacopoeia Committee and individual Unani experts at various levels. Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine, for the first time initiated standardization work on single and compound Unani Drugs through its six smaller Units.
The Government of India has brought the manufacture and sale of Unani Drugs under the purview of drugs and cosmetics Act of 1940. The First Unani Pharmacopoeia Committee was constituted in 1964 under the Chairmanship of Col. Sir Ram Nath Chopra. The Committee was reconstituted in 1968, 1977, 1988, 1994 and 2002 under the Chairmanship of Dr. Hussain Zaheer. Dr. Mohd. Yusufuddin Ahmed, Dr. A.U. Azmi, Prof. Syed Khaleefathullah and Dr. Sajid Husain respectively undertaking the work of Unani Pharmacopoeia of India.