The Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has received NABL accreditation for its state-of-the-art drug and food sample testing laboratory. The state FDA claimed that it is the first FDA lab in the country which has received the prestigious NABL accreditation.

The Maharashtra FDA has been upgrading the lab for the last three years utilising the funds provided by the World Bank under the Capacity Building Project which was started by the Bank to improve the quality and safety of foods and drugs in India, by strengthening the regulatory framework and incorporating components of consumer education and public-private partnerships. The FDA has spent around Rs 5 crore for upgrading the lab.

FDA assistant director and in-charge of the Lab, RR Pol said that the lab has a capacity of testing 6000 drug samples and 1200 food samples in a year. The FDA has spent around Rs 5 crore for upgrading the lab into a model one in the country. There can be no errors in the testing as the lab can maintain the temperature and humidity as per the requirements. All glasswares are calibrated and the accuracy of testing is perfect.

FDA commissioner Dhanraj Khamatkar said that the quality and standard of the lab can be gauged from the fact that the World Bank team which had inspected the lab recently had commended the work done by the Maharashtra FDA in upgrading the lab into a model one. After visiting the lab, the World Bank team member Andrews Seiter had commented that this state-of-the-art will develop into a model for India.

Khamatkar said Maharashtra is the only state in the country which has utilized all the funds made available through the World Bank project. Other states like Karnataka, Gujarat, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Tripura, etc could not fully utilize the fund and has returned the money to the World Bank as the Bank has closed the project on June 30 this year.