Drug Control Administration of Chennai will be setting up a drug information centre in its premises to help the members of the public gather authentic information about the availability of essential drugs and medicines. The new drug centre will become functional by the month of December, efforts are being taken to have a toll free telephone number in the facility, to which people can call and collect information about drug availability, location of the pharmacy and adverse drug reaction details. The information centre will initially function for 8 hours because of the shortage of manpower.

According to N Selvaraju, Drug Controller (in-charge), the database for the proposed information centre is being collected. Information about different medicines is being gathered from various pharma companies in India.

The proposed facility will initially function as a library and reference books worth Rs 2 lakhs will be purchased soon. Selvaraju stated that in later stages information will be provided online and the administration was trying to purchase domain sites to provide the service.

Speaking about the massive raids conducted in the State between 26 September and 9 November, he said that a total of 144 pharma shops throughout Tamil Nadu had been booked for violation of sales rules under Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940.

The raids were conducted in eight phases and were mainly for the misuse of drugs meant for chikungunya and other illnesses. As Pharmabiz had earlier reported the DCA has initiated action against outlets that are involved in selling drugs like paracetamol, ibuprofen and naproxen, whose demand has increased in the wake of Chikungunya cases. DCA found out that the outlets were selling the prescription drugs without prescriptions from doctors or paramedical staffs and without proper sales bills.

"After the raids there has been a drastic reduction in the violations. Even the members of the public are demanding bill on purchase of medicines," said Selvaraju. The shops were raided in Chennai , Kancheepuram, Coimbatore, Pollachi,Tirupur, Karur, Nagapattinam, Namakkal, Villupuram and nearby places. The raids in the coming days will be more stringent, added the official.