The 12th Annual Convention of All India Drugs Control Officers' Confederation (AIDCOC), held in Chennai recently, has exhorted the drug regulators across the country for properly enforcing the Drugs & Cosmetics Act, in the wake of the latest amendments in the Act.

The convention proved to be a common platform in sorting out the problems being faced by the various state drug control departments and suggesting concrete solutions to strengthen the regulatory bodies.

The Convention was inaugurated by Justice S Nagamuthu, Judge Chennai High Court and was attended by V K Subburaju, health secretary, Tamil Nadu Government, R P Meena, director general, Drugs & Copy Right Act, Government of Andhra Pradesh, M Bhaskaran, drugs controller, Tamil Nadu, Dr P V Appaji, executive director, Pharmexcil and drug control officers from across the country.

The Annual meet focused on key issues and concerns before the administration such as shortage of manpower, loopholes in the Act and Rules that help the clandestine manufacturers and sellers to exist in the market, and the latest attempt by the central agency to keep the SLAs away from issuing CoPP.

In his inaugural address, Justice S Nagamuthu said the regulatory bodies should be vigilant in controlling the production and sale of spurious and sub-standard drugs in the country. He suggested that specially skilled people need to be appointed as public prosecutors and assistant public prosecutors while dealing with cases on drugs. If special courts are created, they would do better, he said. The drug control authority should be empowered to implement the Act. "Power to seizure is there, but it should be added as seizure and arrest," the Judge said.

R P Meena, director general, Drugs Control Administration Andhra Pradesh said his department has constituted a committee in the state to monitor the import of spurious drugs.

V K Subburaju, Tamil Nadu health secretary, said the drug production is immensely increasing in the country and the implementation of regulatory measures seems to be difficult. While enacting the Drugs Act in 1940, India was importing drugs giving very high price. Now the number of bulk drugs and formulations has increased enormously resulting in tremendous expansion in the whole pharmaceutical industry. In 2008-09, he said, the production of drugs in the country was worth Rupees 55,000 crore and the current growth rate is 12 per cent. Regarding the state's healthcare system, the health secretary said, in Tamil Nadu, the government is giving medicines free to the patients and there is no shortage of drugs in the state.

The Confederation has given away awards of excellence to various drugs control officers from several states.