In a major boost to its coveted e-governance programme, the Gujarat government recently won the excellence in IT award 2012, in healthcare sector, for its self-licensing software, Xtended Licensing and Laboratory Note (XLN) organised by the Computer Society of India (CSI). This makes the Gujarat FDCA the only government regulatory agency to be recognised with this prestigious award for its unique and patient-industry friendly initiative.

The Gujarat FDCA was selected as the winner among the top 27 finalists from the different sectors in the event that was held in Kolkata on December 1. This award is completely dedicated to those companies or organisations who have excelled in their IT programme. XLN software is a well accepted initiative developed by the state regulatory officials to help the regulators perform their duties more effectively by enabling speedy disposal of various applications while bringing in transparency to the system. The beauty of this system is that it is tailor made to address not only the needs of the regulatory officials but also to address the needs of the industry and the general public as well.

According to Dr H G Koshia, commissioner, Gujarat FDCA, “We really appreciate this award as it recognises the efforts taken by us in adopting an industry friendly initiative. This is a huge boost to our morale especially since we are the only government body in the country to win such top level award among the other corporate giants.”

Through this software the FDCA regulates the sales and manufacturing aspects related to drugs, food and cosmetics; issuance of licenses, etc. The best feature of this software is that it enables the registration of all the pharmacists and chemists which prevents multiple illegal enrolment of pharmacists. Dr Koshia further informed that this software was mainly developed with an aim to control and to put a check on the activities of the stakeholders in the state to ensure public safety and their welfare.

Interestingly this is not the first time that the e-governance programme has grabbed the interest of the IT fraternity, recently the Gujarat government had nominated the self-licensing software for the Prime Minster's Award for Excellence in Public Administration as well, which is expected to be organised in early August next year.