Gujarat FDCA seeks Central funds for infra upgradation

Sent proposal to CDSCO for Rs 100 crore funding

With an eye on upgrading infrastructure, Gujarat Food and Drugs Control Administration (FDCA) has sought funds from the Centre. The state drug regulatory body has sent a proposal to the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) recently asking for funds worth Rs 100 crore.

The FDCA plans to use this fund for upgrading its testing laboratories with latest medical equipment, apart from strengthening its e-governance initiatives, and also personnel training, senior official of Gujarat FDCA informed.

The Gujarat FDCA is known for its e-governance initiatives. Gujarat was the first state in the country to implement an online drug alert system for retailers through short messaging service (SMS).

It recently launched an upgraded version of the system, whereby a consumer can send an sms to the FDCA mentioning the batch number of a particular medicine he has bought and would get an instant reply on whether the drug is fake or not.

States like Maharashtra, Kerala, Goa, Andhra Pradesh are keen to follow the Gujarat model of sms-alert for unsafe drugs. The World Health Organisation (WHO) recently has evinced interest in replicating the Gujarat FDCA model in developing countries.  

It also started a system of issuing online product licenses in the bulk drug segment last year. The FDCA issues close to 500 fresh licenses every month.