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IPA-CPD urges health ministry to amend rules to mandate red line on labels of antibiotics
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Gireesh Babu, New Delhi
January 14 , 2026
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The Indian Pharmaceutical Association-Community Pharmacy Division (IPA-CPD) has requested the Union health ministry to amend the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules to mandate red line marking on the labels of antibiotics, in addition to the currently mandated Schedule H or H1 warning.
The request comes in the wake of the Ministry's red line campaign through social media emphasising on the importance of the red line on medicine labels as a visual indicator that cautions patients against self-medication and the misuse of antibiotics.
Appreciating the ministry of health & family welfare for its role in promoting the rational use of medicines and raising public awareness, especially against the misuse of antibiotics, particularly through campaigns such as the Red Line Campaign, the IPA-CPD said that the Ministry should amend the Rules to mandate use of red line in the labels of antibiotics.
"At present, antibiotics (and all other prescription-only medicines marketed in India) no longer carry the red vertical line on their labels, as the earlier mandatory provision requiring this marking was changed a few years ago, and no longer exists in the prevailing Drug Rules," said Raj Vaidya, vice president & chairperson, IPA-CPD.
The Ministry's campaign on the Red Line on antibiotic labels needs to be modified or temporarily held back until it is mandated by law to have a red line on antibiotic labels, he opined.
A public advisory on the social media handle in the end of December, 2025, issued by the Ministry reiterates the importance of the red line on medicine labels as a visual indicator that cautions patients against self-medication and the misuse of antibiotics.
While the intent of these messages is laudable and much needed in the current context of rising antimicrobial resistance, it currently has a regulatory inconsistency. Even as the Ministry asks to look for the red line on the label, none of the antibiotic labels contain such a red line, he said.
A clear, uniform, and legally mandated visual identifier, such as the Red Line, serves as an effective tool for reinforcing the prescription-only status of antibiotics, discouraging self-medication, and strengthening national efforts to combat antimicrobial resistance.
"In this context, IPA-CPD humbly requests that the Ministry consider suitable amendments to the Drugs & Cosmetics Rules to reintroduce and mandate red line marking on the labels of antibiotics (in addition to the currently mandated Schedule H or H1 warning)," said Vaidya in a letter to the Secretary of the Ministry.
"Aligning regulatory provisions with public health communication will go a long way toward implementing national public health initiatives and promoting the rational use of antibiotics," he added.
The request also gains relevance in the context of the comments from Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his recent episode of Mann Ki Baat, against the indiscriminate use of antibiotics as a key driver of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which has intensified the efforts from the Ministry on its campaign against irrational use of antibiotics.
The Prime Minister, citing an ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) report on the topic, warned against the growing belief that a single pill can cure every illness and said that antibiotics are not a quick fix and must be taken only on a doctor's advice.
The labels of Schedule H, H1 and X drugs has warning in black letters in a red box, mandating that they should be sold by retail on the prescription of a registered medical practitioner.
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