Last Updated on January 14, 2024 by The Health Master
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought response of the Centre on a plea challenging its decision to notify all devices, like blood monitoring devices and digital thermometers, intended to be used specially for human beings or animals as drugs.
A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan issued notice to the Health Ministry and sought its stand on the petition by the Surgical Manufacturers and Traders Association (SMTA).
The plea claimed that the representations of SMTA and other stakeholders were not considered at the time of taking the decision.
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The court listed the matter for hearing with a petition moved last year by SMTA challenging a notification which declared blood monitoring devices, digital thermometers, nebulizers and glucometers as ‘drugs‘ under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act.
The bench said both the matters will be heard on January 29, 2021.
SMTA, represented by advocate Adit S Pujari, has contended that the notification is unreasonable, arbitrary, and would cause “undue hardship to stakeholders on the supply and demand side”.
In its earlier plea, the association has said that notifying the devices as drugs will result in a substantial hike in their prices which would make them unaffordable for a large segment of society.
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