The Gujarat Food and Drug Control Administration (FDCA) has  completed the recruitment of 59 drug inspectors (DI's) in the state. With the appointment of these drug inspectors, the total number of DI's in the state FDCA will be 84 the largest number of drug inspectors in any state.

The selection of the new drug inspectors was done in phased manner with 32 drug inspectors being selected earlier in mid- October. Whereas, in the second phase, another 29 DI's were short listed and selected based on their qualification and Gujarat MPSC test results bringing the total number of new recruits to 59.

The latest recruitment was a part of the initiative taken by the state drug authority to increase its staff so as to deliver and improve its services in the state. According to Dr H G Koshia, commissioner, Gujarat FDCA, “Our main aim is to ensure quality service to our public and that can be accomplished only if we have strong qualified workforce to meet the demands of the industry. Gujarat is a huge state which acts a base for many companies from the pharma, biotechnology, medical device sector thus it is important for us to equip our department to meet the challenges that comes with these opportunities.”

Further he added that considering the presence of a strong retail and wholesale sector in the state it was imperative to increase the strength of the drug inspectors to ensure proper functioning of their business without any discrepancies.

There are 25 districts in the state of Gujarat wherein the drug inspectors are posted according to the size of the district and also on the number of chemist shops present in the place. He said, “It is important to have right number of drug inspectors in an area so that their ratio is proportional to the number or chemist or retailers present there. This way we can ensure better public safety by having a constant watch on the activities that are being conducted in the state.”

Dr Koshia informed that to increase the efficiency of his department further, his office has already submitted a proposal to the state government demanding allocation of funds to recruit another 25 DI's for in the 2012 state budget.