To further government’s SUGAM initiative for transparent and time bound actions on applications made by manufacturing firms in Gujarat,  over 1,000 digitally signed permissions related to applications for Export NOC, Dual Use NOC, Form 29 NOC, additional product permission, CoPP, etc have been issued since March, 2017 by Ahmedabad zonal office of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO).

In this procedure, the applications sent by courier or post are examined in zonal office and in case of any ambiguity, the query is sent back to the e-mail address of the firm as mentioned on the application within seven working days.

In case, the review is satisfactory, the digitally signed permission is issued to the applicant with copy to the office of Commissioner, Gujarat Food and Drug Control Administration (FDCA), Gandhinagar by e-mail only.

Says Arvind Kukrety, Deputy Drug Controller (India), Ahmedabad Zonal office, “As this is not currently under SUGAM activity, hence the replies are required to be submitted in hard copies for better trackability. It is evident that this effort has cut down postage time to zero.”

He further added,“This initiative has helped in reducing the time lag in handling applications, created a hassle free environment and helped industry to save manpower and resources by avoiding personal follow-ups.”

The Union health ministry had put in place systems to further strengthen the e-governance initiatives. In this regard, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation  had unveiled an online portal ‘Sugam’.

In the first phase, digitization of applications for grant of registration certificates for import of drugs or import license of drugs in Form 10, under D&C Rules has been completed and is operational.

In a communication to all the state regulatory authorities and the pharma industry associations, Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) Dr. GN Singh stated that the portal is intended for those who need to file applications for various services rendered by CDSCO. For security purposes and to avoid spams, it was decided that the applicants would need to pre-register themselves on the portal.

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