Meghalaya Pharmacy Council (MPC) has asked the Union health ministry to modernise drug testing lab and address shortage of lab personnel on an urgent basis. As of today, only 300 drug samples are tested on an annual basis for efficacy and safety.

Says Devistone Swer, president, MPC, "Besides the crucial task of tracing spurious and substandard drugs, the testing of life saving drugs can only be accomplished with a properly equipped lab which has advanced testing facility. We have submitted a budget proposal in this regard to allocate Rs.5 crore for the modernization of lab recently to the Union health ministry. As of today only five lab personnel are managing the lab as compared to Regional Drug Testing Lab (RDTL) at Guwahati which has 12 lab personnel.

"The budget outlay of Rs.1200 crore for the healthcare of the country in the 12th Five Year Plan need to be implemented on ground," Swer rues.

With 1500 retail pharmacies across the 11 districts of the state, the stark contrast is that there are only eight drug inspectors for the 12 states including seven North Eastern states. Therefore, there is an urgent need for the enforcement and amendment of Drug and Cosmetic Act 1945 and Pharmacy Act to keep a tab on the illegally run drug stores. It would also mean that qualified pharmacists must be present in retail shops.

MPC set up in the year 1996 has till date done 600 registrations and manages to do 60 registrations on an annual basis. There is also a need to upgrade academic infrastructure in the state to sensitise people about pharmacy education.

"We have not yet received any response from Government of India (GoI) on the memorandum submitted by us on setting up of a pharmacy college in the year 2006," Swer laments.