Nepal's drug regulatory authority has blacklisted 16 Indian pharmaceutical companies, including Divya Pharmacy which manufactures Yoga Guru Ramdev's Patanjali products, stating that they failed to comply with the World Health Organisation's (WHO) drug manufacturing standards.

The Department of Drug Administration, in a notice issued on December 18 asked the local agents in Nepal, which have been supplying these medicines, to immediately recall them. According to the notice issued by the Department, the medicines manufactured by the listed companies cannot be imported or distributed in Nepal.

The list of the companies that do not comply with WHO standards were published after inspection of the manufacturing facilities of the pharmaceutical companies that had applied to export their products to Nepal, according to the Department officials.

In April and July, the Department sent a team of drug inspectors to India to inspect the manufacturing facilities of pharmaceutical companies that had applied to supply their products to Nepal.

Besides Divya Pharmacy, the list includes Radiant Parenterals Ltd, Mercury Laboratories Ltd, Alliance Biotech, Captab Biotec, Aglowmed Ltd, Zee Laboratories, Daffodils Pharmaceuticals, GLS Pharma, Unijules Life Science, Concept Pharmaceuticals, Shree Anand Life Sciences, IPCA laboratories, Cadila Healthcare Ltd, Dial Pharmaceuticals and Mackur laboratories.

Similarly, the Department in another notice issued on December 19 asked the distributors to recall 500 ml and 5-litre hand sanitisers manufactured by India's Global Healthcare. The department has asked the organisations concerned not to use, sell or distribute the hand sanitiser.