In a strategic move to further strengthen and enhance the already strong e-governance programme in the state, the Gujarat Food & Drugs Control Administration, (FDCA) recently upgraded its programme by adding a new consumer oriented feature in its existing system. With a view to sensitise and inform the citizens on the latest drug related developments and health concerns, the state regulatory body has decided to put all the data of not of standard quality (NSQ) drugs henceforth in public domain.

As of now, data on the NSQ drugs is made available only to select members which includes drug inspectors, doctors, chemists and other stakeholders only. Whereas, through this latest initiative that was adopted last month, citizens will now be enabled to check online whether the product they are getting from the manufacturers is of highest quality or falls in the NSQ category. All they have to do is access the official website and click on the concerned page where all the recent data with updated case reports of latest detected NSQ's will put online by the Gujarat FDCA for the benefit of the patients.

According to Dr H G Koshia, commissioner, Gujarat FDCA, allowing the citizens to access this data will act as a two pronged weapon for the regulators, as it will ensure that the consumers are adequately sensitised about the NSQ drugs. At the same time they can also act as informer in case they find some chemists or druggiest selling NSQ drugs across the state in spite of the recall.

“Enabling the consumers to access data will act as a huge step towards bringing better transparency in the system. We are very happy with the initial response, as it plays a major role in aiding us in better enforcement as well as creating better sensitisation among the public. Most importantly, it allows us to strengthen our relation with the public as they are also allowed to play as major role as an informant for cracking the wrong doers.”

Interestingly in what could be a major boost to the e-governance programme of the state, it was selected and short-listed as one of the top finalist among 35 other candidate for the excellence in IT award by the Computer Society of India (CSI) which going to held in Kolkata this month. Gujarat FDCA is the only government regulatory agency to be short-listed for this award that recognises the IT experts in the country.