In a huge boost to the e-governance programme developed by the  Gujarat Food and Drug Control Administration (FDCA), some of the top officials from the South African drug regulatory body expressed their keen interest in adopting the self-licensing software, Xtended Licensing and Laboratory Note (XLN) in their respective country.

Impressed by the advanced level of e-governance programme adopted within the state, the South African drug regulators who had been on a two-day strategic visit to India stressed that they would also like to outsource this software in their country for effective implementation of the drug related rules and regulations within their country. With this the Guj FDCA becomes the only state drug regulatory body in the country to generate nation-wide as well as global interest for this unique software.

Dr H G Koshia, commissioner, Gujarat FDCA, informed that his office has already conveyed full support for this initiative and has already requested the representatives to send an official proposal on this matter. “Only after getting an official confirmation on this, can we take requisite steps for getting approvals from the government. We are very excited about this prospect, as it will put us in the global map, further recognising our huge efforts at modernising and simplifying the regulatory system of not only our country but also of other countries as well,” said Dr Koshia.

Through this software, the FDCA regulates the sales and manufacturing aspects related to drugs, food and cosmetics; issuance of licenses, etc. Interestingly, this is not the first time this software has generated interest. In fact many state drug regulatory authorities in the country have already adopted this software in their respective states with many in tow to do the same. Dr Koshia who played a prominent role in successfully implementing this initiative informed that even the MHRA officials in their recent visit had praised this initiative on XLN software and SMS alert system.

The Gujarat government was just recently recognised with the excellence in IT award 2012, in healthcare sector, for the XLN by the Computer Society of India (CSI), which makes the Gujarat FDCA the only government regulatory agency to be recognised with this prestigious award for its unique and patient-industry friendly initiative.