Save The Cow Mother

Oxytocin is given to women during and after childbirth to save their lives from blood loss. But the government is planning to restrict its use as it is illegally given to cattle to increase milk production.

- Vibha Varshney 

OXYTOCIN IS a hormone that women produce naturally during and after childbirth and is said to strengthen the bond between mother and child. But many women have to be given the hormone after vaginal childbirth to treat blood haemorrhage. Gynecologists often prescribe the hormone to strengthen contractions during childbirth and control bleeding after childbirth. In fact, the drug is part of India’s National List of Essential Medicines. Strangely, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has decided to restrict the use of this drug. After September 1, 2018, only one public sector manufacturer, the Karnataka Antibiotics & Pharmaceuticals Limited (KAPL), would have the licence to produce this hormone and it can only sell this through registered hospitals under the Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana (PMBJP) and the Affordable Medicines and Reliable Implants for Treatment AMRIT.

Reason for restriction 

In October 2014, the Union Minister of Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi wrote to the health ministry to flag the issue of “loss of livestock in the country” due to the illegal use of oxytocin. It is no secret that the dairy industry uses the drug to increase milk production in cattle. On March 15, 2016, the Himachal Pradesh High Court asked if restricting the manufacture of oxytocin only in public sector companies was feasible. The Drugs Technical Advisory Board, a statutory body constituted under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, recommended that formulations for human use can be restricted to be supplied only to registered hospitals in the public and the private sector to prevent its misuse. At present, oxytocin used by the livestock industry is produced in unlicensed facilities.