Karnataka's department of health and family welfare is in the process allotting tenders for the construction of its two labs at Hubli and Bellary in the State. Once the tender allotment is complete it will take 18 to 24 months for the construction and commissioning of the labs.

The state government decided to set up a new lab at both the locations at a cost of Rs 15 crore last year. "We have now made a makeshift arrangement and modified an existing facility to start the process of drug testing. This has been a time-bound initiative only because of the increasing quantum of drug analysis that has been coming to us," Dr BR Jagashetty, drugs controller, government of Karnataka told Pharmabiz.

Three labs to carry out drugs tests make Karnataka possibly the only state in the country, he added.

The drugs control department has already completed its staffing at the two labs. Although there is a full fledged lab at Bangalore located within the State drug control department, it has been overloaded with samples. Going by the need for speedy reports after the analysis, the requirement of additional labs was urgent.

Right now, both the labs are operational. It caters to the tests of the companies in the north and central Karnataka region. The state has 240 pharmaceutical manufacturing units. It is also one of the three leading states along with Maharashtra and Gujarat having the highest number of good manufacturing practices (GMP) compliant units

The drugs control department has a stringent surveillance procedure in place. Its team of drug inspectors across the state and six circles in the headquarter office at Bangalore are known for their constant and surprise checks. Seizing suspicious drug from the 15,000 pharmacy retail and wholesale outlets along with the production plants audits are frequent. Every fortnight there are also communiqués from the department on the details of the spurious and not-of-standard quality drugs in circulation in the state. The department warns both the public and healthcare providers to refrain from consuming and prescribing these drugs. The growing number of samples coming in for scrutiny at the lab in Bangalore has overloaded the operations. In order to increase the level of excellence in the area of drug testing, more number of labs with additional personnel was the only answer for the drugs control department to improve the current situation. Now, with the two labs at Hubli and Bellary, the work is properly distributed said the Karnataka drugs controller.

Meanwhile as part of the national plan to curb the spurious drug sale, Dr Jagashetty is now selected as one of the eight members of the two sub-committees formed by the Drug Consultative Committee (DCC) to oversee the computerization and spurious drugs implementation and control respectively.