As a part of its drug testing upgradation programme, the  Uttar Pradesh Foodsafety and Drug Administration (UP FDA) is planning to recruit 100 lab personnel at its Lucknow lab.

Procurement of state-of-the-art lab testing equipment is also being planned through a tendering process which was long overdue. The upgradation will help analyse the quality of drugs at its lab in Lucknow.

“The lab in Lucknow is the only drug testing facility which requires infrastructure upgradation to a certain level so that samples could be analysed with less turnaround time, says a senior UP FDA official adding further, “We are expecting to analyse 8000 to 12000 samples annually with the upgradation of the lab.”

There are currently 5 testing labs in the state located at Jhansi, Gorakhpur, Agra, Varanasi and Lucknow. The state testing lab at Lucknow is the only lab which currently analyses drug samples. A sum of Rs. 1.75 crore for building expansion at Lucknow testing lab has also been allocated in the past.

The need for upgrading infrastructure has been realised considering the fact that there are currently four testing labs at Jhansi, Gorakhpur, Agra and Varanasi where only testing of food products is done.

The state currently has 79 drug inspectors to inspect around 70,000 drug retail stores in the state. This also includes inspections of 500 manufacturing units and 300 plus blood banks in the state. According to Hathi Committee, there is a need for one drug inspector to properly inspect 200 retail drug stores. To enforce compliance with Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, around 104 posts were also sanctioned in the state.

Based on the inspections conducted for the year 2013-14, a total of 33 FIRs and 51 arrests have been made and drugs worth over Rs. 29 lakhs were seized by UP FDA for non -compliance to Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985.

Drugs included physician sample drugs, narcotic drugs and habit forming drugs. The offenders were booked under sections 274, 275, 276, 419, 420 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 18 and 27 of Drugs & Cosmetics Act.