In an ambitious plan to strengthen the drug regulatory mechanism in the state, the Gujarat FDCA have sent a proposal to the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) last week, asking for an allocation of Rs.100 crore. The state drug regulatory body said that if approved, the funds will be utilised for modernising the office as per the latest regulatory requirements.

This move comes in the wake of the request made by Dr G N Singh, the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI), during the last DCC meeting in February, wherein he had asked all the state drug regulatory officials to submit their proposals for fund allocation under centre's capacity building programme. As per the reports, most of the regulators have already initiated the steps to send the proposal to the DCGI.

However, according to different sources, it is a yearly process conducted by the DCGI's office to get the feed back from the state licensing authorities with hardly any viable outcome. As per a highly placed source, this is a part of the capacity building measure taken by the centre wherein the last allotment in spite of repeated proposal for allocation for the same was made almost 10 years back.

Dr HG Koshia, commissioner of Gujarat FDCA, which is considered as one of the best state drug regulatory body in the country, expressed that he is hopeful that their proposal will be approved by the centre, as it is essential to constantly upgrade and modernise the drug regulatory system as per the changing regulatory norms. “Their is an inane need for us to keep on upgrading our regulatory and monitoring set up to meet the ever growing regulatory challenges for ensuring best healthcare services to our patients. Thus all our focus will be directed towards infrastructural development, gaining latest medical and laboratories equipment for better and efficient drug testing and analysis, training of our officials getting high end computers and better focus on e governance etc.,” Dr Koshia pointed out.

In a huge boost to their above agenda, the Gujarat FDCA recently got an approval of Rs.39 crore from the state government for modernisation of the regulatory system in the state. Dr Koshia informed that it is two fold increase from last years allotment of Rs.19 crore which shows the keen interest of the state government has in preserving the health of the patients in the state.