The union health ministry has set up a new Resource Centre attached with the department of health and family welfare to deal with various projects and programmes sponsored by World Health Organization (WHO) in the country.

The Resource centre, which was earlier functioning as part of the Central Drug Standards Control Organization (CDSCO) operating within the office of the Drug Control General of India (DCGI), has been allotted a new office and infrastructure now along with exclusive portfolios to strengthen its activities.

With the new set up, the Resource Centre is expected to handle the United Nations' country specific projects related to healthcare as well as drug regulatory programmes with a more focused manner, said Umakant Bajaj, director and chief consultant (WHO projects) at the Resource Centre.

The main activities of the Centre include implementation of rural healthcare projects, national immunization and family welfare and health education programmes and the training programmes for the drug regulatory officials funded and sponsored by WHO.

In addition to the ongoing rural healthcare and welfare projects funded by the WHO, the regular workshops on the schedule M compliance for the drug manufacturers and the special training programmes for the drug control and regulatory personnel are some of the major projects sponsored by the WHO in the country at present.

According to Bajaj, with the exclusive infrastructure and facilities, the Centre is now poised to work more diligently to cater to the needs of the country as far as the implementation of the UN healthcare projects are concerned.