The first, second and third editions of National Formulary of India (NFI) were published in 1960, 1966 and 1979 respectively by the Ministry of Health, Govt. of India. In the past 3 decades there has been vast expansion in the range of new drugs and their formulations. To address the need of publication of an updated version of NFI, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Govt. of India vide their Notification No. F.No.X.11035/2/06- DFQC dated 8th May, 2008 assigned this mandatory responsibility to the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC), Ghaziabad and hence the NFI is being published by the IPC on behalf of the Govt. of India, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
The Criteria for Inclusion of Drugs in NFI:
- Drugs in National List of Essential Medicines 2011, India.
- Drugs used in National Health Programmes.
- Drugs listed in Indian Pharmacopoeia.
- Drugs not covered but recommended by panel of experts.
- Any drug (s) considered appropriate by the IPC.
NFI is not a regulatory document. Physicians are supposed to use their professional judgement. Inclusion/Exclusion of monographs in NFI is a dynamic process. The drugs contained in NFI have been chosen for rational and economic prescribing. NFI would serve as a guidance document to medical practitioners, pharmacists, nurses, medical and pharmacy students, and other healthcare professionals and stakeholders in healthcare system.
The 5th edition of the National Formulary of India, 2016 (NFI 2016), has been released on 14.11.2015
See pdf file - National Formulary of India (NFI). 4th Edition 2011
source-
http://apps.who.int/medicinedocs/en/m/abstract/Js23089en/
COMMENTS