The recruitment of 50 drug inspectors on contract basis for the Andhra Pradesh Drugs Control Administration (APDCA) is pending even after 10 months of issuing the order by the State Government sanctioning the recruitment.

The APDCA has been requesting the State Government for sanction of 50 drugs inspectors for the past three years, following which the government finally approved the proposal on July 28, 2004. The drugs department has been urging to strengthen the team in order to curb the menace of manufacture and sale of spurious and not-of-standard-quality drugs.

The matter is pending now with the state public service commission, which is yet to conduct a written test, interview and select candidates for the drugs department. It may take another one month for things to move, a top official at APDCA told Pharmabiz.

In addition to these 50 drug inspectors to be recruited on contract basis, there are six vacancies for permanent posts, which are also to be filled through the Commission, another source in the department said.

The senior drug inspectors have made it clear in the past that recruiting inspectors on contract basis will not suit a regulatory enforcement department and it may bring in issues relating to accountability and loyalty. In fact, this is the first time in the country that any state drugs department has chosen to recruit drugs inspectors on contract basis.

The Mashelkar Committee in its report has stressed the need for recruiting new drug inspectors to strengthen the drugs department. Hathi Committee recommended that there should be a drug inspector for every 100 medical shops and every 25 pharma units. Taking this into account, AP DCA requires a total of 300 drugs inspectors. It has only over 50 drugs inspectors as of now.

The need of recruiting drugs inspectors in the state becomes more significant keeping in view the 'State Audit Report' prepared by the Comptroller & Auditor General of India for 2002-03. The report pointed out that 80 per cent of the prosecution cases were pending trial in courts, shortfall in inspections of manufacture and sale units ranged from 15 to 67 per cent due to huge shortage of (77 per cent) drugs inspectors. There was no increase in the number of drugs inspectors for the last 10 years.

The report also stated that no legal-cum-intelligence cell and anti-spurious drug squads were established in the department. The DCA had not developed any database of manufacture or sale or licenses.