The Gujarat State Food and Drugs Control Administration (FDCA) will soon have 17 more drug inspectors in its office, as the Gujarat Public Service Commission (PSC) has submitted a selection list of drug inspectors to the state government recently.
According to an official source, the Commission has finalised a list of 17 candidates in September and the General Administration Department (GAD) and the State Health and Family Welfare Department are into the recruitment procedure. The process is expected to complete within a month. With the new recruitments, the FDCA will have a total number of 45 drug inspectors in the state.
The Commission had initiated procedures to fill vacant posts of drug inspectors in the FDCA right in 2006. The shortage of staff in the Commission itself has delayed the process. Even though the requirement of drug inspectors in the office was 33 in 2006, the department has to cut down the postings to 17 due to shortage of eligible candidates as per the selection norms, informed H G Koshia, joint commissioner and licensing in-charge, FDCA.
As per the selection norms, a candidate for drug inspector's post should have an experience of 18 months in a sterile drug manufacturing facility. "It is difficult to find such candidates as the industry offers attractive salary to people who have the same experience," averred Koshia.
"We have suggested the PSC to change the norm so as we can select the drug inspectors without the specified experience. Usually, the drug inspectors are assigned to inspect sales premise while the senior drug inspectors are looking after inspection of manufacturing plants. We have informed the PSC that once the recruitment of drug inspector is over, the FDCA can train the person in inspection of manufacturing plants gradually," he added. Normally a drug inspector with an experience of eight to 10 years are promoted to the senior drug inspector's post. The PSC is yet to announce a decision on the request of FDCA.
With the recruitment of new drug inspectors, the Departmental Promotion Committee will initiate the pending promotion procedures of the existing staff in drug control office. The drug inspectors in the state has not been granted any promotion for past several years, as the administration was running in short of enough inspectors to carry on day-to-day activities.
The committee has already recommended the health ministry to promote almost 19 drug inspectors to senior drug inspectors' posts. A proposal to promote another two senior drug inspectors to assistant drug controllers is under consideration of the committee.
The FDCA is also planning to finalise recruitment of 41 food inspector posts and 94 junior scientific assistant posts in the office on contract basis within a couple of months. A committee appointed by the health department to carry on the recruitment procedures under the chairmanship of the drug controller in-charge is meeting in the beginning of the month for selection process.
Even as the state FDCA is happy to get at least half of the posts filled than their requirement, a majority of state drug control offices in the country are still facing shortage of staff to carry out their day-to-day work due to inadequate funding from the state governments.