Looking to set his own `house in order ' first by restructuring it to match with the corporate work culture, the newly appointed Drug Controller General of India, Dr Surinder Singh, promised an `interactive approach' with the industry and `team effort' to take Indian pharma sector to further heights.

The man, who spent most of his career in quality control segment and won laurels for his stupendous works in his previous assignments, also looked forward interacting with the industry to take their inputs for improving functions of the pharma regulatory system in all ways.

Sharing his blueprint of action exclusively with Pharmabiz, Dr Singh said he would ensure more transparency about the procedures, applications from the pharma players and working of his own staff after re-organising the office and equipping with latest IT-enabled services.

On the contentious issue of FDCs, he said that he would go ahead with the measures taken by his predecessor and follow it up with necessary steps to cleanse the market. The matter has been with the sub-committee of the DTAB, he said.

``First priority is to ensure early disposal of pending applications from the industry. I want to restructure the DCGI office by redeploying the staff and also strengthening the activities at the Central office, may be by bringing more staff from the zonal offices,'' he said.

He also promised better work culture and wanted his staff to go beyond the institutionalized thinking, which has been one of the woes of government offices.

``There will be monitoring of the staff, including the time they are taking to clear the files, in my office and I want more accountability from them. My first task is to set the house in order,'' he said.

Looking forward to move into the new building (nearing completion) within the next two months, he said the office would be equipped with the latest computer software with the help of some leading IT players. ``We are planning a good infrastructure to help the applicants to track the progress of their applications online and ensure more transparency at all stages,'' he said.

Dr Singh said one of his main focus areas to begin with will be the study on spurious drugs. Though the promised comprehensive study was to be started in December, it was yet to take off. ``I want to see it begin at the earliest to see to what extent the spurious drugs are in the market exactly,'' he said. After settling down in the office, he is also planning to interact with the industry in a fortnight's time to garner their views on all the issues.

``We want to take their inputs in all matters to make India a global hub of pharma industry. I want a teamwork along with the industry to improve the things. Also, one important area will be their perception about my office and its activities. We want a corporate work culture also in the CDSCO,'' explained Dr Singh, known for his humble nature and cordiality.

Dr Singh, a graduate in medicine from Jammu, completed his MD in microbiology from AIIMS. He also taught at the medical college in Bikaner before joining the CRI, Kasuali through UPSC. He was the head of CDL from 1994 and was made a notified analyst in 1997. Then he joined the National Institute of Biology in 1997, where he was instrumental in setting up a world class Rs 114-crore lab with all facilities. He worked as deputy director till 2006, then he moved back to CRL as additional director on deputation. He also held the charge of the director at Regional Drug Testing Laboratory in Chandigarh. The new appointment as DCGI rather came as a due recognition for his outstanding accomplishments in earlier stints.