Guwahati, 10 January: According to a government notification released on 6th January 2024, Indian pharmaceutical companies must meet new manufacturing standards this year although small companies have asked for a delay, citing their debt load. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has stepped up scrutiny of pharmaceutical factories to clean up the image of the $50 billion industry. After tragic incident that happened in Gambia more than 70 Gambian children died in October 2022 due to the Acute Kidney injury which was linked to cough syrups made in India.

The health ministry started inspecting more than 162 drug factories since August 2022 they found an “absence of testing of incoming raw materials”. This source said that  less than a quarter of India’s 8,500 small drug factories met international drug manufacturing standards set by the World Health Organization (WHO).