In a move to further strengthen its already established e-governance programme in the state, the Gujarat Food & Drugs Control Administration (FDCA) launched its online application for additional API product licences recently. Under this programme all the manufacturers who wish to apply for API product license in the state will from now on have to compulsorily apply for the same through online only.

With this the Gujarat FDCA becomes the only state to have adopted this software in the country which was specifically developed keeping in mind the demand of the state regulatory body. The software which was developed by National Informatics Centre (NIC) in collaboration with Gujarat FDCA was launched early this year, after running it on a pilot basis to check its effectiveness and user-friendliness of the same.

Dr H G Koshia, commissioner, FDCA informed that they have already issued instructions making the online applications for additional product licenses mandatory for all the API drug manufacturers in the state. “With this move, we have taken one more step towards achieving our goal towards becoming a pioneer of adopting e-governance system into our organisation. We want to ensure that everything is computerised, so that delivery of services become more prompt and efficient. The industry has also shown a very positive response on this as they get prompt reply on their applications filed.”

He informed that as soon as an application for product license is received by the system it is immediately sent to the concerned officer from the FDCA's office. “Once my senior officer receives the application, an SMS alert is immediately sent to the applicant  informing him about the status of his application. The beauty of this software is that the officers are supposed to send the reply to the application within a fixed time frame. This way there is enough transparency in the system that will prevent undue delay in services. Through this system we can now even track the application status from the start and find out and analyse the reasons behind any delay if any,” he added.

Taking their initiative further, the Gujarat FDCA is also working on launching online applications for additional product licenses for formulations as well. They have already started with the process and have launched it on a trail basis to study the performance and the practical issues with the software before making it mandatory. Dr Koshia informed that if things go as planned the FDCA may launch it on a full scale and make it compulsory for all the manufacturers within three to four months.