BHUBANESWAR: The popularity of Epeecarm and Cinnamon as alcoholic drinks, not so much as medicinal formulations, has prompted the State Government to do a rethink on their usage. The Health Department has constituted a high-level technical committee which will look into the ‘medicinal utility’ of such formulations. The committee, headed by Director, Medical Education and Training (DMET), Dr PK Dash, has been asked to submit its report in seven days. The committee has been mandated with assessing the actual medicinal utility of drugs like tinctures which have high alcohol content and are misused. Medicinal formulations such as Epeecarm and Cinnamon are popular as alcoholic drinks, not as digestive syrup, which led to their use for intoxication. The panel will identify all such drugs with high alcohol content and assess their medicinal utility against the backdrop of hooch tragedy besides looking at substitutes. Once the assessment is complete, the Government may suggest a change in the formulations or even impose ban on a few, if necessary. The committee will also have Director, Health Services, Drugs Controller, HoDs of Medicine as well as Pharmacology departments of all three medical colleges and a medicine specialist to be nominated by Chairman/HoD of Pharmacology, AIIMS. Meanwhile, another resident of Bhingarpur is reported to have fallen victim to the deadly concoction. Rama Chandra Bhoi of Singhada Sahi died in a private hospital on Thursday taking the hooch tragedy toll to 36.
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