Dr B L Meena, Director General Drug Control Administration of Andhra Pradesh, has been conferred with President’s police medal for his contributions in the field of drug administration, as well as for his earlier contribution at IIMS and to the police department.

Dr Meena who had taken charge as DG of APDCA in November 2012 has been taking many initiatives to improve the drug control administration in the state. As part of this initiative, the DG had taken keen interest in launching the new website for the drug control administration which is providing online services like registrations and renewals of pharmacy drug stores.

Prior to taking charge as Director General of APDCA, Dr Meena had served as deputy director (administration) at Indian Institute of Medical Sciences (IIMS) at Jodhpur in Rajasthan.

Since taking charge as DG of APDCA, Dr Meena has played key role in resolving many pending issues pertaining to clearances to pharma industry and ensured complete transparency and accountability in administration.

One challenging issue before DG was the implementation of the directive of health ministry’s order about issuing licenses of drugs only in generic names instead of brand names. Though the problem is still persisting, the DCA has taken initiative and has written letter to the Central drug control administration and the health ministry for more clarity on the order.  Meanwhile, the state drug controller has decided to follow the same old procedure to issue licenses till the time the clarity comes from the CDSCO.

Expressing happiness for recognising his contributions to the society, the DG is resolved to make Andhra Pradesh drug control administration department more industry friendly. “We are aiming to ease and speed up the registrations, renewals and product approvals in a timeframe manner with more transparency and accountability and we are expecting cooperation of all members for the smooth running of the office,” said Dr Meena.