Centres for the National Pharmacovigilance Programme are expected to receive the necessary funds from the government soon. The DCGI has already released the allocated amounts which are soon to be received by the centres. All the centres have been collecting drug related data since November 2004 and they already possess several hundreds of adverse reactions data.

Talking to Pharmabiz, Dr. Nilima Kshirsagar, dean, professor and head, clinical pharmacology, K.E.M, said that the current investment is in terms of establishing a network and communication channel between the various centres involved and actively collecting data and disseminating information. Several members of the programme are also actively working on developing software to capture the adverse reaction data in a database format.

"There will be a networking and sharing of information between the zonal, regional and peripheral centres all over the country. A database of adverse reactions will be created. The zonal centres at Mumbai (KEM) and Delhi (AIIMS) will be responsible for sending information to Drug Controller General of India (National Pharmacovigilance Committee) as well as Uppsala Monitoring Centre (WHO monitoring centre) at Sweden," explained Dr. Kshirsagar.

Also, the Drug Information Centre (DIC) of Maharashtra State Pharmacy Council (MSPC) has appealed to all eminent doctors to report the adverse drug reactions (ADRs) faced by their patients to build the database in the state, which can be used by international bodies in deciding the susceptibility of the Indian population

This programme will maintain a close watch over the use of drugs and their effects on patients. If the monitoring and reviewing process is absent, the pharmacological effects of drugs, their adverse effects, interactions and misuse can play havoc with the health system, said the sources in MSPC.

The fundamental advantage of the programme is having data on adverse reactions in the Indian population and setting up a database of adverse reactions that are seen in our population and are unique to it.

The National Pharmacovigilance Programme for India, by the World Bank became operational from June1, 2005. The programme was launched on 23rd Nov 2004 in New Delhi. The Central government formed a National Pharmacovigilance Advisory Committee (NPAC) under the chairmanship of director general of Health Services in October 2004. NPAC has been given the responsibility of monitoring the pharmacovigilance programme throughout the country.

Two zonal centers, the South-West zonal centre (located at the Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Seth G S Medical College and KEM Hospital, Mumbai) and the North-East zonal centre (located at the Department of Pharmacology, AIIMS, New Delhi), are selected to collate information from all over the country and send it to the committee as well as to the Uppsala Monitoring Centre in Sweden. Three regional centres will report to the centre in Mumbai, and two to the New Delhi. Each regional centre, in turn, will have several peripheral centres reporting to it. Presently, there are 24 peripheral centers.