NHRC issues notice to the Madhya Pradesh Government on media report alleging illegal drug trials on mentally ill in Indore
New Delhi, December 23rd, 2011
The National Human Rights Commission taking suo motu cognizance of a media report alleging that 233 mentally ill patients were subjected to drug trials in Indore has issued a notice to the Chief Secretary, Government of Madhya Pradesh calling for a report within 4 weeks.
The Commission has also directed him to inform on the following points: -
(a) Whether guidelines of the Indian Council of Medical Research were followed by the doctors, while taking approval for the trials from independent ethics committees attached to private hospitals?
(b) What is the nature of drugs being tested over the mentally ill patients?
(c) Whether any survey has been conducted about the status of health of the mentally ill patients who have undergone drug trials? If so, its findings.
According to the media report 233 mentally ill patients in Indore, Madhya Pradesh were subjected to clinical trials to check the efficacy of various drugs including 42 patients for Dapoxeting, a drug used to cure premature ejaculation. The trials were conducted at private clinics by doctors of the mental hospital attached to the Mahatma Gandhi Medical College, Indore, between January 2008 and October, 2010. The concerned doctors had taken the approval for the trials from independent ethics committees attached to private hospitals both within and outside the State, thus bypassing the Mahatma Gandhi Medical College's own institutional ethics committee. Moreover, the clinics where the trials were conducted did not have the mandatory registration certificate from the District Chief Medical and Health Officer.
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The National Human Rights Commission taking suo motu cognizance of a media report alleging that 233 mentally ill patients were subjected to drug trials in Indore has issued a notice to the Chief Secretary, Government of Madhya Pradesh calling for a report within 4 weeks.
The Commission has also directed him to inform on the following points: -
(a) Whether guidelines of the Indian Council of Medical Research were followed by the doctors, while taking approval for the trials from independent ethics committees attached to private hospitals?
(b) What is the nature of drugs being tested over the mentally ill patients?
(c) Whether any survey has been conducted about the status of health of the mentally ill patients who have undergone drug trials? If so, its findings.
According to the media report 233 mentally ill patients in Indore, Madhya Pradesh were subjected to clinical trials to check the efficacy of various drugs including 42 patients for Dapoxeting, a drug used to cure premature ejaculation. The trials were conducted at private clinics by doctors of the mental hospital attached to the Mahatma Gandhi Medical College, Indore, between January 2008 and October, 2010. The concerned doctors had taken the approval for the trials from independent ethics committees attached to private hospitals both within and outside the State, thus bypassing the Mahatma Gandhi Medical College's own institutional ethics committee. Moreover, the clinics where the trials were conducted did not have the mandatory registration certificate from the District Chief Medical and Health Officer.
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