After a period of 4 decades, the Union Territory of Pondicherry got an independent drugs control department, bifurcating the food and drugs control administration. The official announcement of the new administration will be notified in a few days.
With this decision, the government is meeting a long standing demand of the pharma manufacturers, traders and officials of the department.
Hitherto, the drug department was part of the UT’s FDA, which was formed in 1971. Pondicherry FDA is the second such agency formed in the country after Maharashtra. The government was thinking that a separate department would help streamline the functions of the drug control administration effectively.
The decision to bifurcate the FDA was one of the last cabinet decisions of last year. In the meeting held on December 29, the cabinet gave its nod to form a separate department for drugs control. “The governmental procedures for the division will be completed shortly, but in principle the department has started functioning independently”, said E Valsaraj, health minister of the UT.
The minister said the department is now working with the existing staff and more personnel will be recruited after the formal notification. A new drugs controller will be appointed along with the selection of additional staff. The post of drugs controller is lying vacant for the last twenty years. After the amendment of Drugs and Cosmetics Act in 1989, the post of a controlling authority was not notified in the union territory and the responsibility was being handled by either the commissioner or the additional commissioners.
Earlier, the drugs control wing of the FDA had given a proposal to the government including appointment of additional drug inspectors and other staff, said the present licensing authority P Rajkumar. He said now the department has only four drug inspectors, out of which three are in Pondicherry and one in Karaikkal. The Karaikkal inspector is looking after the offices of Yanem and Mahe too. The SLA’s proposal is for 20 more drug inspectors.
When contacted A Karunakaran, secretary of the Pondicherry Pharma Manufacturers Association, said the decision of the government to create a new department for drugs control will help the industry people a lot and added that they had been demanding this for a very long time. He expects that from now members of industry can get their files cleared fast as earlier they should be sent to the DMS office which often delayed their business. T Selvan, secretary of the Pondicherry Chemists and Druggists Association, welcomed the creation of the new department.
According to information received from the department, currently the head office of the DCA will be in the same premises of the health department in Pondicherry, while there will be three regional offices in Karaikal, Yanem and Mahe to be looked after by drug inspectors. Government has also plan to increase the staff strength of drug inspectors and other officers. The current staff strength of drug inspectors and other officers are not adequate for smooth functioning of the department.
To strengthen the functioning of the DCA, the government needs more qualified staff with technical backgrounds. The next responsibility of the government will be to establish a well equipped modern quality control laboratory with qualified staff and an analyst. Now the samples taken by the inspectors are sent to the drugs control department in Bangalore for testing and analysis.