Context: The Ministry of Ayush and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) renewed their partnership under the ‘One Herb, One Standard’ initiative for an additional three years.
About The One Herb, One Standard (OHOS) Initiative:
What It Is?
- The ‘One Herb, One Standard’ initiative is an inter-ministerial collaborative framework designed to establish unified, scientifically synchronized quality and testing standards (monographs) for medicinal plants used across different systems of medicine in India.
Implementing Organisations:
- Pharmacopoeia Commission for Indian Medicine & Homoeopathy (PCIM&H): Under the Ministry of Ayush.
- Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC): Autonomous body under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.
Aim: To eliminate conflicting quality parameters across different pharmacopoeias, establishing single, clear, and scientifically reliable standards for medicinal herbs to improve the quality, safety, and international credibility of Indian botanical products.
Key Features:
- Harmonized Quality Standards: Synchronizes testing methods and quality parameters for identical medicinal plants across the Indian Pharmacopoeia (IP) and the Ayurvedic, Siddha, Unani, and Homoeopathic (ASU&H) Pharmacopoeias.
- Phase-wise Monograph Development: Builds on the successful development of 50 single-herb monographs created during the first phase (initiated in 2022).
- Cross-System Integration: Applies universally to single drugs of plant origin utilized across five recognized systems: Ayurveda, Siddha, Sowa-Rigpa, Unani, and Homoeopathy.
- Alignment with Global Benchmarks: Integrates international quality parameters alongside Indian standards to ensure Indian botanical monographs meet global trade and regulatory demands.
- Streamlined Testing Protocols: Provides testing laboratories, regulators, and manufacturers with a single reference standard, avoiding conflicting analytical requirements.
Significance:
- Ease of Doing Business & Exports: Reduces regulatory ambiguity and simplifies testing and compliance for Indian botanicals.
- Global Acceptance of Ayush Products: Internationally aligned standards improve safety, credibility, and export potential of Indian herbal products.
