Karnataka drugs control department has received an allocation of Rs.33.07 crore in the state budget grant for 2017-18. This year, the state government’s budget allocation for the health and family welfare department is Rs.5,118 crore in addition to Rs.2,004 crore for medical education.
The department will now use the funds to augment its infrastructure, strengthen its activities in the area of enforcement and inspections. The allocation is expected to take us through our activities and we have received just what was proposed to the state government, said BT Khanapure, Karnataka drugs controller.
Out of this, Rs.33.07 crore, Rs.13.05 crore is for the second Government Pharmacy College in Karnataka at Kalaburagi which is a key northern district in the state. This is one third of the total amount of Rs.40 crore cost estimated for this pharmacy educational institution. This amount is for the construction of a new building for which the land is allotted and administrative approval needs to be taken. The construction will be undertaken by the Karnataka Health System Development and Reform Project, he added.
Another initiative for this fiscal 2017-18 is the setting up a ladies hostel within its campus of the Government College of Pharmacy in Bengaluru at a cost of Rs.9.9 crore. For the construction of this, we have received the administrative approval, said Karnataka drugs controller Khanapure.
The government has also decided to set up a cell culture laboratory within the Government College of Pharmacy in Bengaluru. The key reason is that the Bengaluru already has a conducive research environment. “A dedicated cell culture lab was much wanted in a government pharmacy educational institute. For this lab, the allocation is Rs.54 lakh for the construction of the facility and the related equipment purchase,” said the Karnataka DC.
Going by the regular surprise inspection checks to seize not-of- standard quality (NSQ) drugs, the remaining amount from the total allocation of Rs.33.07 will be used for the drugs control department and drug test labs, he said.
Moving on to the efforts to tackle the not-of -standard quality drugs along with unlicensed sale and storage of medicines in unauthorised locations, Khanapure informed that its enforcement team had recently seized drugs worth Rs.30 lakh. The 14 drugs recovered mainly included Misoprostol and Norethisterone used for abortion and contraception. The investigation is going on for the same. The violation is that there was no valid drug license and the medicines were stocked in an unlicensed premises.