In a blow to the government, Delhi high court on Friday suspended for a month the ban it had imposed on private companies from manufacturing and selling of hormone drug oxytocin. The health ministry had said in April that oxytocin will not be available at retail private chemist stores and that private pharmaceutical companies will have to stop manufacturing the drug from September. The high court has stayed the ban till October.
Oxytocin, is a uterine stimulant hormone, prescribed for the initiation of uterine contractions and induction of labour in women, as well as stimulation of contractions during labour. It is also used to help abort the foetus in cases of incomplete abortion or miscarriage, and to control bleeding after childbirth. It may be used for breast engorgement.
However, it is also used widely in the dairy industry, agriculture and horticulture to boost production. Authorities are also concerned at reported misuse of the growth booster among trafficked children, injected to accelerate puberty among girls.