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KSDCMSO urges govt to appoint IAS officer to head Kerala drug control dept

Peethaambaran Kunnathoor, Chennai | Saturday, August 3, 2013, 08:00 Hrs [IST]

Kerala state drugs control ministerial staff organisation (KSDCMSO) has urged the government of Kerala to initiate steps to revamp and reorganise the state drugs control department by appointing an IAS officer as director general to head the department.

Raising the demand the organisation leaders submitted a memorandum to the chief minister and to the health minister in which they said either an officer in the cadre of IAS or IPS should be appointed to head the department, over and above the post of drugs controller.

An officer in the union civil service to control the enforcement wing can only prevent the clandestine activities of the drug mafia in the state and strengthen the organisation with efficient administrative power, the memorandum said.

The general secretary of KSDCMSO, K A Mohammad Ashraf said that due to the lack of efficient and experienced officers, the department of drugs control could not reach the level and standard of other departments. Though the department of ayurveda is a separate entity under the department, its operations are also monitored by the state drugs controller. He added that the staff organisation would reiterate the demand in its next general body which would be held at Thiruvananthapuram shortly.

He said the duties to be carried out by a drug inspector in one month include inspection on application for fresh licenses also. Instead of conducting inspections to check the flow of spurious/ substandard/ not of standard quality drugs, the inspectors are spending their valuable time to certify the area of medical stores for which the Drugs and Cosmetics Act does not stipulate the presence of a person with pharmacy background. The staff organisation demands that the duty to calculate the area of a fresh pharmacy can be assigned to a senior officer in the administrative wing of the department so that the drug inspectors can concentrate their time more on inspection work which is now for name sake only.

The general secretary of KSDCMSO also wanted the government to hand over the power for inspecting shops for licensing fresh retail and wholesale shops to ministerial officials.

Further to their demand, the ministerial staff wanted the government to retain the ayurveda wing under the sole control of the drugs control department because the licensing and conduct of stability test of drugs in the market are coming under the D&C Act. Government should initiate measures to upgrade the existing three regional offices of the ayurvedic wing to the level of assistant drugs control offices under the state drugs controller.

Ashraf said more than 10,000 ayurvedic retail outlets in the state are having no licenses and they should also be brought under licensed category.

Comments

Dr A D Krishnan

Aug 7, 2013 7:16 PM

It does not make any sense to appoint an IAS or IPS officer to head the Drugs Control Department. The Drugs control department has adequately qualified number of people to carry out their defined functions as per the Drugs and Cosmetics Act. Merely appointing an IAS or IPS officer without any knowledge on Drugas and Cosmetics Act and the rules there under will only generate inadequacy of knowledge which the Drugs Administration has gained after several years of experience. It is a true fact that there are very limited number od Drug Inspectors employed by the Government in proportion to the ever growing number of Phamacies being licensed every month. This is one of the reasons that the pharmacies are not inspected. The Drugs inspectors are overburdened by inspection of the new licensing premises where is the time for inspecting the pharmacies . At any rate appointment of an IAS / IPS officer will not be any use as they still have to depend on the technical staff and the Drugs control

Tom Joseph

Aug 5, 2013 8:56 PM

An I A S officer is not necessary for heading any Dep../Org. Instead of that an expert is ideal person. Elite category of bureaucrat are reminds of colonial past. Maintenance of them costing too much to our exchequer. Corruption is a part our system, each and every citizen are to be enlighten to curb this menace.Each category is expected to perform satisfactorily for what they are employed. Don't poke your nose in others matters and finally licensing is essential for all type of economic activity, but inspecting medicines of Indian system present drug inspectors are not ideal as they are not trained in such that.

rajesh	Aug 5, 2013 7:01 AM
inspection and verification by ministerial staff should be done by the drugs inspector itself otherwise it may lead to heavy corruption in the department.that cannot be allowed.the D&C describes the duties and responsibilities of drugs inspectors clearly.

RAKESH KUMAR

Aug 4, 2013 5:21 PM

To strengthen the Drugs Control Dept. and their control activities there should be enough Drugs Inspectors in each office. There are hundreds of medical stores, pharmacies in each districts. It is not clerks to do the activites as per D & C Act. There should be sufficient Pharmacy Professionals to Inspect and approve the manufacture, storage, sales, distribution etc of drugs. More importantly the ones now working in this department should recognise the importance of his role in the community. Taking bribe from Pharmacy owners and allowing malpractices should be stopped immediately. The world is changing. If one is not willing to take up his responsibility, he will be replaced by another, no doubt. If Pharmacists are not functioning upto the mark the role will be claimed by anyone, may evev by a clerk.

deepak	Aug 3, 2013 7:23 PM
no need to involve ministerial staff for inspection... just increase the no. of drugs inspectors and pharmacy inspectors for smooth functioning.